UC-NRLF 

111 

*C   37   213 


University  of  California. 


OF 


/ 


\  Vs 


I 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


ON  THK 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


OF 


ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER, 

(A  SENATOR  FROM  MICHIGAN), 

DELIVERED   IN  THE 

SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

U-S. 

FORTY-SIXTH    CO^TG-RKSS,    SECOND    SESSION", 

JANUARY    28,    1880. 

(  LI  \\  \\  A  lv\      | 

VN  1  VK/;^1'1^'    °K 

<  -AMKnKSlA. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 
I860. 


JOINT  RESOLUTION  to  print  the  eulogies  delivered  in  the  two  houses  of  Congress 
upon  the  late  Zachariah  Chandler. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  twelve  thousand  copies  of  the  eulogies 
delivered  in  the  two  houses  of  Congress  upon  the  late  ZACHARIAH  CHAN 
DLER  be  printed,  eight  thousand  for  the  use  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  and  four  thousand  for  the  use  of  the  Senate,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  have  printed  the  portrait  of  Mr.  CHANDLER  to  accompany  the 
same,  and  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  the  expense  of  procuring  the  said 
portrait  the  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars  he,  and  is  hereby,  appropriated  out 
of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

Approved,  February  17,  1880. 


ANNOUNCEMENT 


OV    TIIK 


DEATH  OF  ZAOHAEIAH  CHANDLER, 


A   SENATOR   FROM   MICHIGAN. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
MONDAY,  DECEMBER  1,  1879. 


llev.  J.  J.  BULLOCK,  Chaplain  of  the  Senate,  offered  the  fol 
lowing 

PRAYER : 

Almighty  and  most  merciful  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we 
adore  Thee  as  the  only  true  and  living  God,  the  creator,  the 
preserver,  and  the  supreme  ruler  of  the  universe.  We  thank 
Thee,  O  God,  for  all  thy  providential  blessings  to  us.  They 
are  more  in  number  than  the  stars  of  heaven  and  the  sands 
of  the  sea-shore.  Especially  do  we  thank  Thee  for  Thy  kind 
preservation  of  us  since  last  we  met  together  in  this  Chamber, 
and  that  we  are  permitted  to  enter  upon  the  duties  and  re 
sponsibilities  of  another  session  of  this  venerable  body,  under 
circumstances  of  great  mercy,  in  the  enjoyment  of  reason,  and 
of  health  and  every  needed  blessing. 

It  hath  seemed  good  unto  Thee,  O  God,  in  Thine  inscruta 
ble  providence,  to  remove  by  the  hand  of  death  from  this  body 
one  of  its  members.  We  pray  that  Thou  wouldst  bless  his 
afflicted  family.  Sustain  them  in  their  sore  bereavement,  and 


r 


ANNOUNCEMENT   OF   THE 


comfort  them  with  the  consolations  of  our  most  holy  religion. 
And  may  we  be  deeply  impressed,  by  this  solemn  event,  of 
our  own  mortality,  of  the  shortness  and  uncertainty  of  life, 
and  of  the  importance  of  being  prepared  for  our  departure; 
for  we  know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour  when  we  shall  be 
called  hence. 

And,  O  God,  we  invoke  Thy  blessing  to  rest  upon  another 
member  of  this  body,  whom  Thou  hast  sorely  stricken,  in  re 
moving  by  death  from  his  companionship  the  partner  of  his 
joys  and  his  sorrows.  We  invoke  Thy  blessing  to  rest  upon 
him  in  his  sore  affliction.  And  if  there  be  any  other  member 
upon  whom  Thou  hast  laid  Thy  afflicting  hand,  we  pray  that 
Thou  wouldst  remember  them  in  great  mercy  and  sanctify 
their  afflictions  to  them. 

We  commit  ourselves  and  all  that  are  dear  to  us  to  Thy 
guidance  and  protection.  We  implore  Thy  grace,  and  the 
forgiveness  of  all  our  sins.  We  pray  for  our  rulers,  for  the 
President  and  Vice-President,  the  Senators  and  Representa 
tives  in  Congress,  and  for  all  others  in  authority.  Guide  their 
counsels  and  lead  them  to  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as 
shall  redound  to  Thy  glory  and  to  the  best  interests  of  our 
common  country.  Be  Thou  their  guide  and  support  through 
all  the  trials  and  changes  of  life ;  be  with  them  in  the  solemn 
hour  of  death ;  and  finally  receive  us  all  into  Thine  everlasting 
kingdom,  through  the  riches  of  grace  in  Christ,  our  Redeemer. 
Amen. 


Mr.  FERRY.  Mr.  President,  the  sorrowful  duty  devolves 
on  me  of  announcing  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  the 
recent  and  sudden  death  of  my  late  colleague,  ZACHAEIAH 
CHANDLER,  of  Michigan,  which  occurred  in  the  city  of  Chi 
cago,  on  the  1st  day  of  November  just  passed. 


DEATH   OF  ZACHARIAII   CHANDLER. 


In  making  this  announcement,  it  is  not  my  purpose  now  to 
speak  of  the  character  and  services  of  one  so  long  and  so  nota 
bly  a  member  of  this  body ;  but  at  some  suitable  time  I  will 
invite  the  Senate  to  express,  by  resolution  and  by  eulogy,  its 
sense  of  the  irreparable  loss  the  nation  sustains  in  the  death 
of  so  distinguished  a  citizen. 

Mr.  President,  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  a 
Senator  present  at  our  last  adjournment  but  absent  now  for- 
evermore,  I  move  that  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to ;  and  (at  three  o'clock  and  ten 
minutes  p.  in.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


ADDRESSES 


DEATH  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER, 


A  SENATOR  FROM  MICHIGAN. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  SENATE. 

WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY  2&,  1880. 


The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  By  tlie  unanimous  order  of  the 
Senate  this  day  has  been  set  apart  for  the  delivery  of  eulogies 
m  commemoration  of  the  death  of  the  late  Senator  from  Michi 
gan,  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER. 

Mr.  FERRY.  Mr.  President,  the  time  having  arrived  for 
the  delivery  of  eulogies  upon  my  late  colleague,  the  announce 
ment  in  the  Senate  of  his  death  having  already  been  made,  I 
now  offer  the  following  resolutions  and  move  their  adoption  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  receive  with  profound  sorrow  the  announce 
ment  of  the  death  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  late  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States  from  the  State  of  Michigan,  and  for  nearly  nineteen  years  a  member 
of  this  body. 

Resolved,  That  to  express  some  estimate  held  of  his  eminent  services  in 
a  long  public  career  rendered  conspicuous  by  fearless  patriotic  devotion, 
the  business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended,  that  the  associates  of  the 
departed  Senator  may  pay  fitting  tribute  to  his  public  and  private  virtues. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.    The  question  is,  will  the  Senate 
agree  to  the  resolutions  ? 
The  resolutions  were  agreed  to  unanimously. 


ADDRESS   OF  MR.   FERRY   ON   THE 


Mr.  FERRY.     I  send  other  resolutions  to  the  desk  and  ask 
that  they  be  read. 
The  resolutions  were  read,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  loss  the  country  sustained  in  the  death  of  Mr.  CHAN 
DLER  was  manifest  by  expressions  of  public  sorrow  throughout  the  land. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  dead  Senator 
the  members  of  the  Senate  will  wear  crape  upon  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  resolutions 
to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Resolved,  That  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
deceased,  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

The  VICE-PRESIDENT.  The  question  is  upon  agreeing  to 
the  resolutions  just  reported. 


Address  of  Mr.  FERRY,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  observance  of  the  Senate  this  day  is  in 
memory  of  no  common  man.  The  sterling  qualities  of  his  man 
hood  none  ever  dare  assail.  He  wore  his  faults  upon  his 
sleeve.  Charges  of  his  defamers  were  frivolous  and  discred 
itable  to  themselves ;  for  of  all  the  great  men  who  have  lived 
and  died  in  this  generation,  there  was  no  keener  seer,  no 
shrewder  organizer,  no  franker  partisan,  no  truer  patriot  than 
ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER. 

The  Chandlers  of  Bedford,  New  Hampshire,  were  well-to-do 
farmers  of  the  Puritan  Mayflower  stock.  There,  in  1813,  he 
was  born,  and  there  he  passed  his  childhood,  receiving  what 
was  then  thought  a  good  primary  education.  As  the  boy 
grew  up  his  father  gave  him  his  choice,  a  college  training  or 
a  thousand  dollars  to  stock  a  business  life.  He  chose  the 
latter,  and,  with  the  spirit  of  adventure  which  has  always 
marked  the  New  England  race,  he  made  for  western  wilds. 

Michigan  at  that  time  was  a  trackless  wilderness,  whose 
solitude  lay  unbroken  save  by  the  roar  of  surrounding  waters. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIAKIAII    CHANDLER.  !) 

Detroit  then  was  a  town  on  the  border,  with  a  population  of 
some  five  thousand  souls.  There  he  stuck  his  stake  and  be 
gan  his  mercantile  career,  llis  main  object  in  those  days  was 
to  win  commercial  success.  This  he  achieved  by  his  self-denial, 
energy,  fidelity,  sagacity,  and  integrity.  No  man  worked 
harder,  lived  more  frugally,  or  upheld  a  higher  standard  of 
business  morality.  Many  a  night  he  slept  on  the  floor  or 
counter  of  his  store,  and  many  other  nights,  through  the  for 
est  roadway,  under  the  light  of  the  stars,  he  traversed  the 
peninsula  from  point  to  point,  doing  business  by  day  and 
pushing  his  way  by  night.  For  several  years  he  thus  had 
been  toiling,  when  the  great  financial  crash  of  1837  overtook 
him.  Smaller  country  merchants  could  not  meet  their  paper. 
CHANDLER'S  store  in  Detroit  felt  the  wave  of  disaster,  and, 
gathering  up  all  available  effects,  he  pushed  for  New  York 
and  laid  before  his  creditors  the  exact  situation,  proposing  to 
make  to  them  an  assignment  of  all  ho  had.  Their  answer 
was  equally  creditable  to  him  and  to  them :  "  CHANDLER, 
you  are  too  good  a  man  to  be  lost  for  want  of  confidence ;  go 
back  and  go  on  with  your  business,  and  if  you  want  more 
goods  send  on  your  orders."  The  result  showed  they  had  not 
misjudged.  In  a  couple  of  years  he  had  weathered  the  storm, 
and  paid  every  debt,  dollar  for  dollar ;  and  from  that  hour  his 
fortune  was  assured. 

Meanwhile  he  became  most  thoroughly  identified  with  his 
city  and  State.  Generally  known  as  a  thorough  business  man, 
his  acquaintance  with  the  business  men  of  Michigan  was  bet 
ter  than  any  one  of  his  associate  pioneers.  His  public  spirit 
led  him  into  all  relations  with  his  fellow-citizens  which  prom 
ised  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  adopted  home.  Then,  in  his 
earlier  vigor,  he  took  part  in  the  various  organizations  of  the 
young  men  of  Detroit,  and  first  became  known  as  a  speaker  in 


2  c 


10  ADDRESS   OF   ME.   FERRY   ON   THE 

the  debating  society  of  the  city,  attracting  special  attention  by 
a  public  lecture  on  the  "  Elements  of  Success."  At  that  time 
the  whigs  and  democrats  were  the  contending  political  parties, 
and  Michigan  was  controlled  by  the  then  powerful  democratic 
party,  under  the  distinguished  leadership  of  General  Lewis 
Cass,  himself  a  worthy,  honored,  and  influential  resident  of 
Detroit.  CHANDLER,  as  became  his  New  England  origin,  sided 
with  the  whigs.  His  first  decidedly  political  speech  was  made 
in  1848,  at  Detroit,  one  evening,  upon  a  box  at  a  corner  of  the 
street,  in  favor  of  the  presidential  candidacy  of  General  Zach- 
ary  Taylor.  He  began  that  speech  by  saying  in  a  sprightly 
way  that  one  of  the  reasons  he  had  for  supporting  his  candi 
date  was  that  his  name  was  "  Old  Zach,"  a  name  he  honored, 
for  his  name  too  was  "Zach,"  scarcely  dreaming  as  he  said 
it  that  thirty  years  afterward,  from  the  platform  of  a  crowded 
hall  in  a  great  city  west  of  Detroit,  on  the  eve  of  his  death,  he 
himself,  as  "Old  Zach,"  would  be  greeted  by  admiring  thou 
sands  of  his  fellow-citizens,  assembled  to  hear  the  last  and 
ablest  speech  of  his  life. 

From  the  election  of  General  Taylor  to  the  Presidency, 
CHANDLER  took  a  more  active  part  in  the  local  politics  of 
Michigan.  In  1851  he  was  chosen  mayor  of  Detroit,  against 
the  powerful  influence  of  his  political  opponents,  through  his 
personal  popularity.  The  next  year  he  was  nominated  by  the 
whigs  for  governor  of  the  State,  but  the  time  for  party  change 
had  not  then  come,  and  he  sustained  defeat.  Undaunted  he 
bore  the  taunts  of  democratic  leaders  in  those  days,  who  con 
temptuously  smiled  upon  his  political  aspirations  and  jeered 
him  with  the  hint  that  a  mere  merchant  and  business  man 
should  never  aim  so  high! ! 

Controversy  in  national  politics  gradually  ripened  a  new 
order  of  things.  The  issues  forced  upon  the  people  by  the 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLER.  1  1 

repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise  and  the  consequent  scenes 
in  Kansas  gave  birth  to  a  new  party,  whose  history  should 
surpass  all  others  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government. 
CHANDLER  was  one  of  the  fathers  and  founders  of  that  repub 
lican  party,  and,  notwithstanding  his  pretensions  were  so  de 
rided  by  his  political  adversaries,  he  displaced  the  honored 
democratic  champion,  General  Cass,  by  taking  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  -on  the  4th  of  March,  1857. 

In  a  single  week  after  his  election  to  this  high  place  he  had 
retired  from  an  active  and  large  mercantile  business,  with  all 
its  aft'airs  definitely  arranged,  that  private  matters  should  not 
divert  him  from  his  more  responsible  duties  to  the  people  of 
State  and  country.  When  this  change  of  pursuit  occurred  he 
was  in  business  capacity  the  peer  of  Astors,  Stewarts,  and 
Vanderbilts.  The  secret  of  success  he  had  found.  His  wealth, 
already  assured,  was  so  disposed  that  before  his  death  he  was 
accounted  with  the  country's  millionaires.  The  energy  and 
zeal  which  had  wrought  out  so  large  a  fortune  was  now  di 
rected  to  questions  of  public  interest  which  for  years  he  had 
seen  arising,  and  had  been  preparing  himself  to  meet,  with  a 
faith  as  clear  as  his  courage  was  invincible.  Elected  to  this 
body,  he  continued  a  Senator  for  three  consecutive  terms,  end 
ing  March  4, 1875.  At  the  choice  for  the  fourth  term  he  was 
defeated,  when  the  qualities  of  the  man  shone  forth  as  never 
before.  Silent  and  serene  he  bided  his  time.  He  well  knew 
that  the  body  of  the  State  was  with  him,  and  that  he  had  been 
abandoned  by  a  handful  of  men  who  in  an  hour  of  fatality  were 
incapable  of  measuring  either  him  or  themselves.  Knowing  it 
was  unjust,  he  felt  sure  that  his  own  State,  for  which  he  had 
labored  for  years,  would  on  the  first  occasion  right  the  blun 
dering  wrong.  She  was  early  to  discover  and  prompt  to  cor 
rect  her  mistake.  Happily,  too,  that  she  rejected  the  example 


12  ADDRESS   OF   MR.  FERRY   ON   THE 

of  the  Greeks,  who  persecuted  their  sages  and  heroes  to  death, 
then  afterward  repented  in  monuments  and  tears.  The  inter- . 
val  of  loss  to  the  State  was  gain  to  the  nation.  The  lapse 
proved  auspicious.  It  was  needed  to  furnish  opportunity  for 
his  commanding  business  capacity  and  Spartan  virtue  to  dis 
play  on  another  field.  Eetiring  from  the  Senate  did  not  long 
end  his  public  service.  The  Department  of  the  Interior,  one 
of  the  most  important  and  complicated  branches  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  was  suffering  under  the  cloud  of  evil  repute.  He 
was  invited  by  President  Grant  to  assume  its  charge,  and,  in 
October,  1875,  took  the  office.  Those  who  knew  him  well  at 
once  predicted  that  he  would  clear  that  Department  of  long- 
prevailing  scandals,  and  manage  its  affairs  vigorously,  wisely, 
honestly,  and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  country.  How  well 
he  met  this  expectation  the  record  of  his  official  relation  to  it 
will  best  answer.  Upon  the  inauguration  of  President  Hayes, 
CHANDLER  was  superseded  and  returned  to  his  home  in  De 
troit,  ending  apparently  his  official  life.  For  himself  he  could 
well  then,  and  honorably,  withdraw  from  all  active  participa 
tion  in  the  political  struggles  of  the  day;  but  the  public  felt  a 
loss  which  he  alone  could  repair.  On  the  resignation  of  Sen 
ator  Christiancy,  by  whom  he  was  defeated,  he  was  replaced  in 
the  Senate  by  an  overwhelming  voice  of  the  Legislature  of  his 
State,  and  at  once  resumed  his  seat  here,  which  he  held  to  the 
close  of  the  late  extraordinary  session. 

To  justly  take  the  measure  of  this  man  we  must  recall  the 
times  and  associates  of  his  labors.  CHANDLER  first  came  to 
his  senatorial  seat  at  the  called  session  of  March,  1857.  He 
stood  up  in  this  Chamber  and  took  the  oath  of  office  with 
HAMLIN,  of  Maine ;  Bayard,  of  Delaware;  Bright,  of  Indiana; 
Broderick,  of  California;  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts;  Preston 
King,  of  New  York;  Rusk,  of  Texas;  Cameron,  of  Pennsyl- 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAH   CHANDLER.          13 

vaiiia;  Dixou,  of  Connecticut;  Wade,  of  Ohio;  Doolittle,  of 
Wisconsin;  Mallory,  of  Florida;  and  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Mis 
sissippi.  That  oath  was  administered  by  Mason,  of  Virginia, 
and  faithlessly  as  some  came  to  regard  it,  CHANDLER  meant 
every  word  of  it,  officially  lived  it,  in  his  last  public  words  in 
the  presence  of  assembled  thousands  glowed  with  it,  and  died 
with  the  supreme  joy  of  having  through  all  tests  of  ambition, 
fortune,  and  peril  obeyed  its  obligations  faithfully  to  the  end. 
On  taking  his  seat  and  casting  about  him  he  saw  the  veterans 
of  the  Senate,  the  venerable  fathers  and  orators  of  the  Be- 
public,  and  men,  too,  as  he  gazed,  who  even  then  were  pre 
paring  for  revolt  upon  the  contingency  of  an  adverse  pres 
idential  election.  He  saw  Breckinridge,  of  Kentucky,  just 
then  sworn  into  the  office  of  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States  and  President  of  the  Senate.  lie  saw  here  then,  as 
seen  now,  a  democratic  majority  and  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
then  policy  of  that  proud  party.  There  were  the  venerable 
Butler,  of  South  Carolina;  Slidell  and  Benjamin,  of  Louisiana; 
Toombs,  of  Georgia;  Houston  of  Texas;  Johnson,  of  Tennes 
see;  and  greatest,  if  last,  Douglas,  the  giant  of  Illinois.  And 
among  the  master  spirits  of  the  policy  of  the  broadest  liberty 
as  the  true  construction  of  the  national  character,  were  Sew- 
ard,  of  New  York;  Wade,  of  Ohio;  HAMLIN  and  Fesseuden, 
of  Maine;  Sumner  and  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts;  Hale,  of 
New  Hampshire;  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky;  Collamar  and 
Foot,  of  Vermont;  Broderick,  of  California;  Harlan,  of  Iowa; 
Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania;  and  Trumbull,  of  Illinois.  Many 
of  these  were  lawyers  and  statesmen  of  ripe  experience  in 
these  halls,  some  of  whom  had  sat  with  Calhoun  and  Clay  and 
Webster  and  Benton,  sharing  in  the  debates  of  those  giants  of 
earlier  days.  CHANDLER,  fresh  from  the  counter,  had  many 
things  to  learn;  but  he  was  not  long  in  taking  his  bearings. 


14  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   FERRY   ON   THE 

The  whole  country  was  then  profoundly  agitated.  President 
Buchanan  was  surrounded  by  Cass  and  Cobb,  Jacob  Thomp 
son,  Toucey  and  Floyd,  Brown  and  Black,  and  Chief -Justice 
Taney.  Filibuster  Walker  was  maneuvering  in  southern 
waters,  threatening  by  his  piratical  movements  to  embroil  the 
nation  in  foreign  war;  the  Kansas  conflict  was  raging  with  in 
creasing  fury,  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  then  a  quiet  country  law 
yer  in  Illinois,  was  carefully  noting  the  situation  and  uncon 
sciously  bracing  for  his  herculean  labor.  CHANDLER  lost  no 
opportunity  to  express  concern  for  manifest  disregard  for  the 
welfare  of  the  North  and  West.  Observing  this  early,  in  place 
ment  on  committees  in  the  first  session  of  the  Thirty-fifth  Con 
gress,  when  committees  were  announced,  he  rose  and  in  earnest 
but  dignified  remonstrance  said,  "  Sir,  we  are  not  satisfied,  and 
we  desire  to  enter  our  protest  against  any  such  formation  of 
the  committees  as  is  here  proposed";  and,  on  one  of  his  first 
measures — a  bill  to  deepen  the  Saint  Clair  Flats — said,  "I 
want  to  see  who  is  friendly  to  the  great  Northwest  and  who 
is  not,  for  we  are  about  making  our  last  prayer  here.  *  *  * 
After  1860  we  shall  not  be  here  as  beggars."  Upon  the  ques 
tions  of  more  general  character  in  the  national  policy  he,  with 
becoming  reserve,  deferred  in  debate  to  more  experienced  mem 
bers;  but  when  measures  were  proposed  which  he  could  not 
indorse,  he  was  of  such  a  mold  that  he  could  not  sit  by  in' 
silence.  His  face  was  squarely  set  against  the  Lecompton 
constitution  and  the  acquisition  of  Cuba.  His  speeches  on 
those  projects  are  among  the  most  telling  protests  raised  in 
the  Senate  upon  kindred  measures.  In  the  fiercer  debates 
which  followed,  the  custom  of  the  duello — popular  at  the 
South,  but  deprecated  at  the  North — received  new  life.  Me 
nace  and  insult  had  reached  their  limit.  They  were  no  longer 
to  be  borne.  CHANDLER,  Wade,  and  Cameron  signed  a  com- 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.       15 

pact  to  fight  on  the  first  provocation.  It  certainly  was  a 
bold  step,  but  it  was  effectual.  CHANDLER  and  Wade  soon 
had  occasion  to  act  upon  their  purpose.  Seward's  "irre 
pressible  conflict"  drew  insult,  and  CHANDLER  took  up  his 
cause.  Sumner  was  smitten  down  and  Wade  repelled  the 
dastardly  act.  Whatsoever  may  be  said  of  the  means  em 
ployed,  the  code  thenceforth  practically  came  to  an  end. 
CHANDLER  was  as  ready  with  words  as  with  blows.  When 
the  John  Brown  raid  at  Harper's  Ferry  was  under  discussion 
his  allusion  to  the  fury  which  sealed  the  fate  of  those  whose 
zeal  for  human  liberty  knew  no  bounds,  was  a  most  biting 
piece  of  satire. 

If— 

Said  he— 

seventeen  men  were  to  attack  the  city  of  Detroit  in  any  capacity,  and  the 
mayor  should  appoint  as  a  guard  more  than  seventeen  constables  to  take 
care  of  them,  the  city  auditor  would  decline  to  audit  the  account.  He 
•would  not  pay  it. 

His  foresight  was  even  more  remarkable  than  his  fearless, 
patriotic  zeal.  In  the  great  presidential  contest  of  1860,  when 
four  candidates  were  before  the  people  and  the  whole  land  was 
kindled  to  the  highest  state  of  excitement,  his  belief  that  on 
the  success  of  Lincoln  hinged  the  life  of  the  nation  made  him 
most  active  and  conspicuous  in  the  campaign.  He  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  triumphant  knight  of  that  great  tourna 
ment.  When  Congress  assembled,  following  this  presidential 
race,  he,  with  others,  saw  the  national  heavens  black  with 
portent.  He  watched  with  anxiety  the  days  of  winter  unfold 
ing  signs  of  national  disintegration,  and  marked  the  powers  of 
national  self-preservation  scattered,  and  the  Chief  Magistrate 
in  grave  message  declaring  the  Government  powerless  to  pre 
vent  separation.  In  these  and  other  unmistakable  signs  he 


16  ADDRESS   OF  MB.   FERRY   ON   THE 

read  the  deep-seated  purpose  of  destroying  the  Union,  and 
when  a  peace  convention  of  all  the  States  was  called  to  meet 
in  Washington  he  could  not  restrain  or  disguise  his  judgment. 
The  cry  for  "peace"  then,  and  under  such  indications  and 
preparations,  was  to  him  a  pretext,  the  outcome  of  which  was 
war.  He  so  penned  a  private  letter  to  the  governor  of  Michi 
gan,  which,  purloined,  was  made  the  subject  of  mock  solemnity 
of  horror  by  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  and  the  occasion  for  Eich- 
ardson,  of  Illinois,  to  taunt  him  with  the  authorship  of  what 
has  come  to  be  known  as  "CHANDLER'S  blood-letting  letter." 
CHANDLER'S  reply  to  these  was  a  manly,  frank  utterance,  and 
such  a  scathing  arraignment  of  the  scheme  of  secession  and 
rebellion  that  the  loyal  spirit  of  the  country  was  roused,  mock 
oratory  in  the  Senate  for  the  time  put  at  rest,  and  this  famous 
letter  signalized  as  the  one  prophecy  of  patriotic  foresight 
which  the  muse  of  history  writes  down  sadly  fulfilled.  It  was 
by  him  then  memorably  said  that  peace  conventions  would 
prove  vain  and  fruitless.  The  4th  of  March  found  many  seats 
in  this  Chamber  vacated.  Subsequent  events  developed  seven 
States  of  the  Union  organized  at  Montgomery  into  a  separate 
government,  with  Jefferson  Davis  its  president  and  ALEXAN 
DER  H.  STEVENS,  now  a  distinguished  member  of  the  other 
House,  its  vice-president,  Fort  Sumter  invested,  fired  upon, 
and  war  suddenly  opened  on  a  generation  that  had  as  little 
practical  knowledge  of  war  as  belief  that  arms  were  to  settle 
what  votes  had  legally  expressed  as  the  will  of  loyal  people. 
The  lack  of  the  art  and  practice  of  warfare  was,  however,  more 
than  made  up  by  the  spirit  and  enthusiasm  for  the  old  flag, 
which  knew  no  bounds. 

Of  the  few  rare  men  reared  and  raised  into  prominent  place 
by  an  all- wise  Providence  for  the  matchless  struggle,  CHAN 
DLER  was  one.  He  had  in  large  measure  the  very  qualities 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       17 

to  animate  and  inspirit  a  bravo  and  willing,  but  unmartial 
people,  loving  country  above  peace  and  life.  Such  men  were 
needed  to  quicken  and  encourage  the  forces  on  the  field  amid 
the  reverses  which  fell  to  our  Army  during  the  first  years 
of  the  war.  Congress  met  in  December,  '61 ;  a  great  shadow 
lay  on  the  loyal  heart;  undismayed,  and  firm  and  hopeful 
midst  disaster,  CHANDLER  was  the  first  to  move  in  this  body 
a  committee  on  the  conduct  of  the  war,  which  was  on  the  part 
of  the  Senate  composed  of  Wade,  CHANDLER,  and  Johnson. 
And  well  did  it  perform  its  great  task.  Keports  from  it  fill 
seven  large  volumes  of  the  public  records.  To  give  a  glimpse 
of  the  character  of  its  work,  and  the  lamentable  national  situ 
ation  calculated  to  appall  the  bravest,  it  seems  due  at  this 
time  to  this  stout  heart  that  his  own  words  should  voice  that 
work  and  that  situation.  He  said  in  this  Senate,  July  16, 
1862: 

At  an  early  day  of  the  present  session  of  Congress  the  Committee  on  the 
Conduct  of  the  War  was  raised.  *  •  *  The  committee  has  been  in  con 
stant,  almost  daily,  communication  with  the  Administration,  and  has  from 
time  to  time  submitted  such  information  as,  in  their  opinion,  should  be  fur 
nished  to  the  Executive.  How  valuable  this  information  may  have  been  to 
the  Administration  is  not  for  mo  or  the  cou.mittee  to  decide,  but,  in  my  opin 
ion,  when  the  history  of  the  war  shall  have  been  written  the  country  will 
give  credit  where  credit  is  due. 

The  last  one  of  that  valiant  trio  of  this  body  has  gone  to 
join  his  colleagues  where  just  merit  is  rewarded ;  and  on  this 
occasion  and  in  this  presence,  one  voice  at  least  of  that  coun 
try  shall  say  that  it  already  gives  and  will  thenceforth  "  give 
credit  where  credit  is  due."  As  to  the  situation,  he  continued: 

The  battle  of  Bull  Run  seems  to  have  been  the  culminating  point  of  the 
rebellion.  Up  to  that  time  the  North  hardly  seemed  to  appreciate  the  fact 
that  we  were  in  the  midst  of  war;  that  a  gigantic  and  wicked  rebellion 
was  shaking  the  very  foundation-stones  of  our  political  institutions ;  that 
the  rebels  meant  a  bloody,  fratricidal  war.  The  firing  upon  Sumter  was 
considered  rather  the  action  of  a  frenzied  mob  than  the  fixed,  determined 


3  c 


18 


ADDRESS   OF  ME.   FERRY   ON   THE 


intent  to  break  up  and  destroy  the  best  Government  the  world  had  ever  seen. 
That  battle  left  the  enemies  of  the  country  masters  of  the  field  and  virtually 
besiegers  of  the  capital.  From  that  21st  day  of  July,  1861,  the  nations  of 
the  earth  considered  the  experiment  of  republican  institutions  a  failure,  or 
at  least  an  untried  experiment.  Rebellion  had  triumphed,  and  the  nations 
believed  the  Republic  was  tottering  to  its  fall.  Our  securities  became  val 
ueless  outside  our  borders,  and  our  armies  to  be  raised  were  considered  men 
in  buckram.  Not  so  the  brave  and  loyal  millions  of  the  North.  They  knew 
that  the  resources  of  the  North  had  not  been  touched,  that  the  battle  of 
Bull  Run  was  but  an  insignificant  skirmish,  without  results  to  either  side, 
and  forthwith  began  to  put  forth  their  mighty  energies.  Up  to  this  time 
the  earnestness  of  this  rebellion  had  not  been  appreciated  by  the  North. 

Later  than  this  painful  recapitulation  of  our  then  sorry  con 
dition,  and  in  the  second  year  of  the  war,  our  fortunes  proved 
no  better  than  the  first.  Eepeated  disasters  not  only  thinned 
our  ranks  and  spread  distrust  of  success,  but  made  the  enemy 
bold  and  defiant.  The  hearts  of  the  loyal  people  sank  within 
them.  A  peace  party  began  to  develop  in  their  midst.  Mc- 
Clellan,  the  popular  idol  of  the  hour,  was  at  the  head  of  the 
finest  army  the  world  ever  saw.  Instead  of  fighting  the  enemy 
in  the  field,  peninsula  malaria  was  permitted  to  decimate  that 
army,  which,  later,  emerged  from  the  seven  days'  disaster  in 
covering  an  inglorious  defeat.  Still  an  idolized  commander, 
no  one  dared  arraign  him — notwithstanding  the  Union  cause 
was  on  the  brink  of  ruin — till  on  the  1st  day  of  July,  1862, 
ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  pronounced  his  master  speech  on  the 
conduct  of  the  war,  and  closed  by  demanding  the  removal  of 
McClellan.  It  fell  like  a  thunderboldt,  but  it  cleared  the  sky. 
From  that  hour  hope,  and  new  vigor,  stirred  the  masses  of 
the  Xorth. 

To  speak  of  his  labors  during  the  years  of  the  war — how 
watchful,  useful,  tireless,  fearless,  hopeful,  defiant,  and  active 
everywhere — would  be  to  reflect  upon  the  memories  of  our 
country  and  households  for  whose  sake  he  battled  in  this  Sen 
ate  and  elsewhere ;  visited  field  and  camp ;  viewed  the  hospi- 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH    CHANDLER.         10 

tills;  cared  for  the  maimed  and  dying;  cheered  and  upbore  the 
President  and  his  sorely  pressed  Cabinet,  until  victory  perched 
upon  the  Union  banner.  Congressional  records  will  reveal 
the  multiplied  forms  in  which  his  sagacious  and  practical 
mind  shaped  the  measures  which  were  so  vital  during  the 
years  of  the  war,  and  which  now  stand  as  the  policy  of  the 
Government,  and  his  memorial  legacy,  bequeathed  to  a  saved 
and  grateful  nation. 

Of  his  labors  since  that  period,  time  will  not  permit  me  to 
speak  at  length.  As  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce 
of  the  Senate,  and  of  which  he  was  a  member  at  his  death,  he 
imparted  to  its  varied  labors  that  freshness  and  vigor  of 
thought  and  breadth  of  suggestion  for  which  he  was  ever  noted. 
As  in  war,  so  in  peace,  anything  which  concerned  the  honor 
of,  or  advanced  American  interests  never  escaped  his  ready 
attention.  Whether  at  home  or  abroad,  her  rights  and  wel 
fare  were  to  him  of  the  first  importance.  To  the  revenue  and 
financial  measures  which  have  contributed  to  restore  the  nation 
to  a  condition  of  prosperity,  and  have  raised  our  commercial 
credit  and  standing  to  the  front  rank  with  the  powers  of  the 
globe,  he  gave  the  aid  of  his  rare  experience  and  ripest  judg 
ment.  Occupied  with  the  exhaustive  labors  that  grew  out  of 
the  attempt  to  destroy  the  Union  by  force  of  arms ;  with  the 
care,  thought,  and  legislation  demanded  to  provide  adequate 
organic  guarantees  to  forever  remove  the  source  of  national 
division ;  to  assure  to  slaves  made  free  their  rightful  citizen 
ship,  and  utterly  extirpate  every  vestige  of  electoral  disqualifi 
cation  ;  to  retire  to  the  body  of  the  people  an  army  millions 
strong ;  to  safely  reconstruct  and  restore  desolated  States ;  to 
re-establish  civil  service  upon  the  basis  of  preference  given  to 
maimed  Union  soldiers  in  Government  employ ;  to  provide 
ways  and  means  to  meet  the  cumulative  obligations  of  the  na- 


20  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   PERRY   ON   THE 

tion  and  place  the  money  of  the  people  upon  a  safe  and  stable 
basis  5  to  prove  that  under  monarchies  and  not  republics  ulaws 
are  silent  in  the  midst  of  arms" — since  all  the  functions  of 
popular  sovereignty  went  on  with  uninterrupted  precision — I 
repeat :  with  care  for  all  these  subjects,  Mr.  CHANDLER  found 
time  and  occasion  to  guard  as  well  against  any  acts  encroach 
ing  upon  our  rights  and  just  relations  with  nations  abroad,  as 
to  watch  and  advance  the  supremacy  of  the  political  party 
charged  with  the  defense  and  welfare  of  the  nation  at  home. 
He  offered  and  advocated  a  resolution  for  reclamation  upon 
Great  Britain  for  the  destruction  of  our  shipping  by  the 
Anglo-Confederate  privateers  at  sea;  discussed  non-inter- 
course  with  England ;  spoke  with  indignant  fervor  upon  the 
raids  from  Canada ;  and  urged  a  termination  of  the  reciprocity 
treaty  with  that  Dominion.  He  as  freely  denounced  European 
despotism  on  this  continent  and  raised  his  voice  against  its 
usurpations.  He  submitted  a  resolution  of  inquiry  into  the 
alleged  acts  of  the  Mexican  imperial  government  toward  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  Juarez  party,  who  were  reported  to 
have  suffered  death  by  order  of  Maximilian.  His  speech  on 
this  resolution  was  the  bold  denunciation  of  a  soul  burning 
with  indignation  at  the  intrigues  and  cruelties  by  which  a 
hated  throne  had  been  set  up  on  republican  soil,  uttered,  too, 
at  a  time  when  our  word  was  thought  in  Europe  to  have  lost 
its  prestige  and  power.  He  said  of  this  imperial  intruder : 

If  this  man,  under  similar  circumstances,  had  been  captured  in  Austria  he 
would  have  been  whipped  to  death ;  France  would  have  put  him  in  a  cave 
and  smothered  him  with  smoke ;  England  would  have  blown  him  to  pieces 
at  the  muzzle  of  her  guns.  I  think  Mexico  made  a  mistake.  He  had  for 
feited  the  right  to  die  a  soldier's  death. 

No  one,  I  believe,  ever  doubted  CHANDLER'S  courage  to  be 
equal  to  any  emergency,  public  or  personal.  I  can  recall  but 
one  occasion  in  my  long  acquaintance  with  him  when  he 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAII   CHANDLER.       21 

seemed  disheartened  and  borne  down  by  the  force  of  public 
events.  It  was  when  President  Johnson,  attempting  the  re 
moval  of  the  great  War  Secretary,  Stanton;  quarreling  with 
the  then  famous  hero  of  the  war,  General  Grant,  and  defying 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  escaped  impeachment  so 
narrowly.  CHANDLER  felt  that  republican  government  was 
then  at  stake  and  impeachment  a  necessity.  Never  was  there 
a  time  when  he  came  so  nigh  despairing  of  the  Eepublic  as  at 
that  event.  He,  however,  as  others,  happily  learned  that  a 
republic  that  could  survive  the  tragic  loss  of  its  beloved  martyr 
President,  and  live  under  the  misrule  of  an  ignoring  accession, 
has  beneath  its  destiny  a  Divine  grasp  which  gives  assurance 
of  its  survival  of  all  human  device  or  human  ill. 

Men  die,  but  the  Republic  lives.  This  Senate,  as  well  as  the 
country,  will,  however,  miss  Senator  CHANDLER.  Upon  many 
and  varied  topics  he  shared  in  debate;  direct,  forceful,  and 
accurate,  he  spoke  with  effect.  lie  at  times  was  matched  with 
the  foremost  of  his  associates  and  seldom  had  to  retract  or 
surrender  his  propositions.  His  discussions  with  the  classical 
and  accomplished  Sumner  are  striking  examples  of  his  accu 
racy  and  force  in  all  matters  of  substantial  fact  and  interest. 

In  the  session  of  1874-'75  he  was  putting  forth  his  ripest 
powers  in  support  of  measures  which  he  thought  would  tend 
to  the  general  prosperity,  relieve  commercial  depression,  and 
bring  back  better  times. 

When  his  senatorial  term  expired  his  expectation  was  that 
the  State  he  had  honored  and  served  would  mark  its  approval 
by  his  return  to  the  Senate  for  another  term.  Changes,  how 
ever,  of  a  partisan  character  had  occasioned  the  alienation  of 
many  supporters  of  the  republican  party  in  several  of  the 
States  of  the  Union.  The  democratic  party  had  thus  gained 
the  ascendency  in  enough  of  those  States  to  place  the  House 


22  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   FERRY   ON   THE 

of  Representatives  in  their  hands.  Michigan  was  more  or  less 
affected,  and  some  of  its  old  friends  had  turned  away  from  the 
republican  party  in  that  State,  as  well.  The  republican  ma 
jority  in  the  Legislature  was  in  a  measure  reduced.  Though 
he  received  the  nomination  of  his  party  friends,  yet  in  the 
elective  contest  he  was  defeated,  through  the  fusion  of  a  few 
members  with  his  political  opponents.  Never  did  he  carry 
himself  through  any  struggle  with  a  loftier  crest.  He  scorned 
to  stoop  for  so  glittering  a  prize. 

This  defeat  did  in  no  wise  abate  his  zeal  for  the  party  which 
had  failed  to  return  him  to  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  Chosen 
chairman  of  the  republican  national  committee,  although  then 
filling  the  place  of  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  he  promptly  ac 
cepted  its  burden  and  actively  entered  upon  the  presidential 
campaign  of  '76.  It  is  needless  here  to  mention  the  causes 
which  had  depressed  the  ardor  of  the  people  and  had  alienated 
many  from  the  support  of  the  party  in  power.  CHANDLER, 
with  a  trained  hand,  organized  the  campaign,  and,  through  all 
the  summer  of  fear  and  doubt,  his  unquailing  spirit  directed 
its  movements.  When  the  hearts  of  others  began  to  fail,  he 
rose  in  the  might  of  his  energy  and  infused  new  courage  to  all 
around  him.  At  length,  when  the  decisive  day  had  come  and 
gone,  and  many  waited  in  painful  suspense  weary  days  for  the 
tidings  of  the  result,  he,  with  the  first  consciousness  of  the 
truth,  sent  forth  from  the  city  of  New  York  that  ever-memora 
ble  dispatch :  "  Hayes  has  185  votes  and  is  elected."  And  so 
it  proved.  Through  all  the  tempest  of  the  electoral  count,  the 
clamor,  outcry,  threats,  defiance,  fierceness,  and  bitterness  of 
contending  partisans,  rank  and  file,  that  prophet-sentence 
brooded  in  the  air ;  and  when  the  4th  of  March  arrived  the 
nation  joined  in  the  fact,  and  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  was  inaugu 
rated  President  of  the  United  States,  and  you,  Mr.  President, 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER   OF  ZACIIAR1AII   CHANDLER.       23 

duly  installed  Vice-Fresident  and  President  of  this  august 
body,  over  which  you  preside  with  impartial  ability. 

Placed  also  at  the  head  of  the  republican  State  central  com 
mittee  of  Michigan  for  the  fall  campaign  of  '78,  the  happy 
result  showed  that  his  interest  in  his  own  State  in  no  wise 
flagged.  The  State  did  not  forget  his  national  and  State  work. 
When,  by  the  resignation  of  Senator  Christiancy,  a  vacancy 
occurred  here,  CHANDLER  was  chosen  by  the  Legislature  with 
substantial  unanimity  to  fill  the  place,  with  manifest  gratifica 
tion  on  his  part,  and  expressed  satisfaction  on  the  part  of  many 
of  his  former  associates. 

The  closing  days  of  the  late  extraordinary  session  record 
another  chapter  in  his  remarkable  history.  The  debate  on  the 
bill  to  pension  the  soldiers  of  the  Mexican  war  brought  Jeffer 
son  Davis  conspicuously  before  the  Senate.  Fervid  encomiums 
were  pronounced  upon  him,  till  from  the  gallery  floated  down 
and  passed  among  Senators  this  waif,  "  There  seems  to  be  no 
one  here  that  dares  call  treason  by  its  right  name."  When 
CHANDLER  read  it  he  quietly  remarked,  "  There  will  be  some 
one  before  the  debate  is  closed."  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  he  rose  and  delivered  that  philippic  which  will  never  cease 
to  be  famous  in  the  annals  of  our  national  polemics.  Nor  will 
any  of  us  ever  forget  the  last  time  he  addressed  the  Senate. 
Senators  know  well,  and  the  country  minds  well,  the  purport 
of  his  thoughts  as  in  closing  he  said,  "  As  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States  and  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  I  appeal  to 
the  people.  It  is  for  those  citizens  to  say  who  is  right  and  who 
is  wrong." 

Congress  dispersed,  and  in  a  few  days  he  went  back,  as  he 
declared  he  would,  to  the  people.  In  several  of  the  States 
there  were  approaching  elections.  Political  excitement  surged 
over  the  whole  country.  Many  prominent  men  took  part  in  the 


24 


ADDRESS   OF  MR.   FERRY   ON   THE 


canvass  of  States  and  did  efficient  work  everywhere,  but  no  one 
was  held  in  greater  request  than  he.  It  is  not  now  invidious  to 
say  it.  For  the  first  time  a  Detroit  merchant  was  summoned 
to  New  England  to  recount  the  political  situation.  It  was  my 
pleasure  to  witness  his  gratification  on  reading  the  telegraphic 
invitation  from  the  scholarly  courtesy  of  the  Senator  from 
Massachusetts  nearest  me.  He  traveled  thousands  of  miles; 
spoke  during  the  season  at  various  places  in  Maine,  Massachu 
setts,  New  York,  Ohio,  and  Wisconsin. 

Wending  his  way  homeward,  he  spoke  at  Chicago  the  even 
ing  of  the  night  of  his  death  to  what  the  Senator  from  Illinois 
near  me,  who  nobly  stood  by  him,  has  said,  was  the  finest  audi 
ence  ever  assembled  in  that  great  city  of  the  West  on  any  po 
litical  occasion,  and  delivered  what  history  will  write,  the 
greatest  forensic  achievement  of  his  life.  He  spoke  as  one 
already  chosen  for  the  shaft  of  death.  His  counsel  seemed  the 
utterance  of  a  dying  father.  Never  was  he  more  inspired, 
direct,  powerful,  and  convincing.  Of  his  party  he  there  said : 

The  republican  party  is  the  only  party  that  ever  existed,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  ascertain,  which  has  not  one  single  solitary  unfaithful  pledge 
left — not  one.  The  republican  party  was  created  with  one  idea,  and  that 
was  to  preserve  our  vast  territories  from  the  blighting  curse  of  slavery,  and 
we  saved  them.  But  we  did  more  than  that.  We  pledged  ourselves  to 
save  your  national  life ;  we  saved  it.  We  pledged  ourselves  to  save  your 
national  honor,  and  we  saved  it.  We  pledged  ourselves  to  give  you  a  home 
stead  law  ;  we  gave  it.  We  pledged  ourselves  to  improve  your  rivers  and 
harbors,  and  we  did  it.  We  pledged  ourselves  to  build  you  a  Pacific  rail 
road  ;  we  built  it.  And  not  to  weary  you,  the  last  pledge  we  gave  was  that 
the  very  moment  we  were  able  we  would  redeem  the  obligations  of  this 
great  Government  in  the  coin  of  the  world ;  and  on  the  1st  day  of  January, 
1879,  we  fulfilled  the  last  pledge  ever  given.  Notwithstanding  all  this  they 
say  your  mission  is  ended  and  that  you  ought  to  die. 

The  multitudinous  huzzas  that  greeted  this  closing  effort  of 
an  eventful  career  made  it  the  proudest  moment  of  his  life, 
when  he  was  never  so  appreciated,  and  never  so  dear  to  the 
loyal  heart  of  the  American  people. 


LIFE   AND  CHARACTEE  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       25 

A  fitting  fiuale  to  the  sad  disclosure  of  the  morning  dawn. 
"CHANDLER  dead,"  as  the  lightning  bore  it  on  the  mournful 
Saturday  morning,  stirred  the  soul  of  this  people  with  the  sad 
dest  tidings  since  the  assassination  of  Lincoln.  Alone  in  his 
chamber,  where  he  had  retired  for  the  night,  he  cast  his  har 
ness  off,  and  the  morning  of  November  1,  1879,  discovered  to 
the  nation  a  loss  which  sent  a  thrill  and  shock  as  if  some 
monarch  of  the  forest  had  fallen.  The  people  mourned  as  for 
a  prince  departed. 

To  have  given  in  any  manner  a  faithful  touch  of  the  public 
career  of  this  earnest  man  without  recalling  great  landmarks 
in  the  progress  of  the  nation,  with  which  he  was  identified, 
would  be  the  play  of  Hamlet  with  Hamlet's  part  left  out. 
Simply  to  characterize  him  has  been  my  purpose,  and  to  show 
'mid  what  shoals  he  steered  with  safety.  Words  would  fail  to 
analyze  such  a  spirit.  Acts  were  the  methods  of  his  life,  and 
national  struggles  must  be  retold  to  do  even  partial  justice  to 
one  who,  with  their  rise  and  fall,  fought  to  win.  Action  was 
the  eloquence  of  his  life.  He  who  is  ever  disturbed  by  the 
recital  of  the  rugged  pathway  of  the  Republic,  fails  to  learn 
that  with  nations,  as  with  men,  mistakes  are  the  steps  to  suc 
cess.  Those  who  made  them  need  not  spurn  the  mention  of 
them,  for  they  have  occasioned  the  grandeur  of  our  national 
growth ;  those  who  won  by  them  need  but  joy  over  them,  for 
without  them  slavery  with  its  woe,  in  the  place  of  liberty  with 
its  glory,  would  to-day  be  the  inheritance  of  the  nation. 

What  more  shall  I  say  of  him?  He  was  emphatically  a  self- 
made  man,  shaped  on  a  giant  mold;  of  intense  conviction  and 
resistless  will ;  a  rough  rudely-cut  diamond,  unpolished  by 
culture  of  the  schools.  In  strength  massive,  in  sense  surpass 
ing,  in  mental  force  subduing,  in  fidelity  steadfast,  and  in 
straightforward  honesty  as  transparent  as  the  crystal  which 


4  0 


26  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   FERRY   ON   THE 

from  every  angle  reflects  the  liquid  light.  Little  did  he  care 
for  theories.  This,  all  his  speeches  show.  We  have  learned 
how  he  toiled  in  the  early  years  of  his  life,  and  how,  when  the 
time  came,  he  wove  his  own  personality  into  the  web  of  the 
national  fabric.  His  arguments  were  living  things.  His  sen 
tences  were  catapults.  He  went  right  to  the  core  of  every  mat 
ter.  He  dealt  with  marrow,  while  bone  and  flesh  were  left  to 
their  own  decay.  He  was  as  disinterested  in  the  public  service 
as  man  well  can  be. 

It  cost  him  time  and  money  to  serve  his  country.  He  asked 
nothing  in  return  but  a  place  for  service.  His  aspirations  for 
office  were  laudable ;  position  he  used  as  a  means  to  an  end, 
and  that  his  country's  good.  A  man  of  deep  feeling,  but  his 
impulses  always  took  a  practical  turn.  It  was  not  rose-colored 
sentiment,  but  vigorous  thought  and  rugged  act  that  filled  the 
measure  of  his  life. 

With  all  his  public  labors  he  never  lost  his  fondness  for  home. 
In  wife  and  daughter  and  grandchildren  was  garnered  una- 
bating  devotion.  By  the  frankness  of  his  nature,  the  ease  with 
which  he  was  approached,  and  by  his  broad  and  ready  sym 
pathy,  his  hold  upon  his  friends  and  attachment  of  the  masses, 
gave  him  hosts  of  zealous  followers. 

Floral  tokens  of  admiration  and  affection  were  various  and 
plentiful  at  his  funeral  rites.  Crowning  his  casket  was  a  char 
acteristic  tribute  from  the  custodian  of  his  business  interests. 
It  was  a  tablet  of  white  azaleas,  across  which,  with  beautiful 
violets,  was  traced  u  Faithful  to  the  end."  The  procession  to 
his  last  resting  place  was  a  remarkable  scene  of  devotion.  A 
violent  snow-storm  prevailed,  and  yet,  from  home  to  grave,  the 
avenues  were  literally  thronged  with  men  and  women,  defying 
storm,  to  pay  their  mournful  tribute  to  their  distinguished 
dead. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZAOHARIAlt   CHANDLER.       27 

CHANDLER'S  memory  rests  not  alone  in  the  measures  which 
have  become  a  part  of  the  policy  of  the  Government,  or  in  the 
many  phases  of  his  active  life,  but  dwells  largely  in  the  hearts 
of  his  countrymen.  Time  will  best  award  him  his  rightful 
meed.  To  that  just  arbiter,  as  an  attached  friend  and  cola- 
borer,  I  submit  his  varied  career,  from  which  I  make  no  appeal. 

In  closing  my  humble  tribute  to  his  fame,  I  cannot  forget  to 
note  that  he  never  left  a  doubt  upon  the  minds  of  others,  wher 
ever  he  moved,  that,  however  he  may  have  faltered  at  times 
and  ways  himself,  he  held  with  reverence  and  faith  that  belief 
which  reckons  life  but  the  vestibule  of  immortality.  All  forms 
of  infidelity  he  despised.  If  he  did  not  always  practice,  he 
often  recognized  his  highest  obligations.  A  touching  instance 
of  this  was  the  sad  occasion  of  his  burying  a  brother  in  a  land 
of  strangers,  at  dead  of  night,  in  the  dreariness  of  rain. 
As  the  body  of  that  brother  was  let  into  the  grave  without 
Christian  word  of  parting,  with  none  to  voice  a  single  senti 
ment  of  faith  or  hope,  he  himself  bowed  his  knees  to  the  earth, 
and  there,  in  the  pitiless  storm,  offered  prayer  to  Almighty 
God.  He  did  not  forget,  but  generously  befriended  the  Chris 
tian  church.  Into  the  secrets  of  his  heart,  on  that  solemn 
morning,  when  alone  he  met  his  God,  we  dare  not,  and,  indeed, 
we  cannot  penetrate.  Immortal  now,  he  rests  with  One,  who 
gives  supreme  value  to  all  that  is  good  in  life,  and,  what  is  infi 
nitely  more,  "  He  doeth  all  things  well." 

We  have  seen  the  nation  mourn  as  the  heroic  figures  that 
held  sway  in  trying  periods  of  our  history  passed  to  the  dust 
of  death — Lincoln  and  Stanton,  Chase,  Seward,  Sunnier,  Wade, 
and  Morton,  and  the  thronging  procession  of  valiant  captains 
and  men  who  wrought  out  the  salvation  of  the  Union.  Added 
now  to  the  roll  is  CHANDLER.  All  these  are  borne  upon  the 
hearts  of  a  grateful  people  who  delight  to  honor,  buc  who  are 


28          ADDRESS  OF  ME.  ANTHONY  ON  THE 

powerless  to  recall.  With  no  murmuring,  but  rather  with 
hopeful  spirit,  do  we  trust  steadfastly  in  that  Providence  by 
whose  mysterious  courses  kingdoms  and  republics  rise  and 
fall;  and  do  we  reverently  speak  of  that  Being  whose  designs 
embrace  countless  myriads  of  men,  by  whose  almighty  will  all 
nations  live,  and  in  whose  omniscience  the  vast  future  of  our 
beloved  land  is  at  this  moment  folded  up. 


Address  of  Mr.  ANTHONY,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  This  scene  and  this  occasion  renew  to  me 
the  shock  which  I  experienced  when  the  sorrowing  wires  un 
laded  their  burden  of  grief  and  told  me  that  CHANDLER  was 
dead.  It  is  difficult  to  associate  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  with 
the  idea  of  death.  His  exurberant  vitality,  his  overflowing 
spirit,  his  commanding  air  and  presence,  all  forbid  it.  I 
almost  look  to  see  his  manly  and  vigorous  figure — fit  tene 
ment  of  his  manly  heart  and  his  vigorous  intellect— rise  from 
his  accustomed  seat,  towering  above  his  peers  in  this  Cham 
ber  ;  I  almost  listen  for  that  voice  whose  stentorian  tones  these 
walls  have  so  often  sent  back  to  our  ears. 

Born  and  educated  in  New  England,  passing  the  maturity 
of  his  years  in  the  West,  he  united,  in  an  uncommon  degree, 
the  qualities  and  characteristics  of  each:  the  shrewdness,  the 
steadiness,  the  keen  observation,  the  inflexible  purpose  of  the 
one;  the  freshness,  the  eager  earnestness,  the  sturdy  robust 
ness  of  the  other ;  the  fidelity,  the  truthfulness,  the  manliness 
of  both.  His  sincerity  was  beyond  question ;  his  honest  belief 
in  the  principles  which  he  professed  was  never  disputed;  he 
meant  what  he  said,  and  he  said  all  that  he  meant.  He  had  no 
halting  opinions ;  he  had  a  judgment,  and  a  decided  judgment, 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHAUIAH   CHANDLER.       29 

on  every  question  that  was  presented  to  him;  and  although  at 
times  he  seemed  to  be  hasty  of  speech,  it  was  the  haste  of  the 
occasion,  not  the  haste  of  sudden  conviction  or  of  uncontrol 
lable  impulse.  Those  who  knew  him  intimately  knew  how 
closely  he  had  studied,  how  deeply  he  had  thought  upon  the 
questions  that  he  had  discussed  with  apparent  suddenness, 
and  that  his  impulsiveness  of  manner  followed  long  and  care 
ful  examination  of  the  subject  under  consideration.  It  was  not 
the  rushing  of  the  stream  swollen  by  violent  rains,  but  the  let 
ting  loose  of  the  imprisoned  waters  of  the  lake,  which,  long 
collected  and  confined,  waited  but  the  opportunity  of  outlet  to 
pour  forth  with  more  than  the  impetuosity  of  the  mountain 
torrent.  He  was  a  forcible  but  not  a  frequent  speaker.  The 
strength  of  his  convictions  found  expression  in  the  boldness  of 
his  utterance.  Disdaining  the  lighter  graces  of  rhetoric,  his 
speeches  did  not  sparkle  with  wit  nor  glow  with  sentiment, 
but  they  bristled  with  facts;  if  he  did  not  captivate  by  his 
style,  he  compelled  assent  by  his  reasoning  ;  and  when  he  had 
arranged  his  facts  and  constructed  his  argument,  his  conclu 
sion  followed  with  almost  irresistible  force. 

Devoting  himself  to  commerce  and  to  politics,  he  attained 
eminent  success  in  each  and  secured  the  highest  rewards  of 
both.  To  enumerate  the  positions  which  he  filled  and  the 
honors  that  he  received  would  be  but  to  repeat,  in  feebler 
phrase,  what  has  been  so  well  said  by  the  Senator  who  was  his 
colleague.  I  think  I  shall  do  violence  to  the  feelings  of  no 
man,  and  to  the  friends  of  no  man  who  survives  him  in 
that  State,  so  eminent  for  its  distinguished  sons,  when  I 
say  that  he  was,  by  common  acceptance,  the  first  citizen  of 
Michigan.  The  respect  and  affection  in  which  he  was  held 
at  home  were  manifested  on  the  day  of  his  burial.  It  was 
a  fitting  day  for  that  sad  office.  Detroit  was  in  mourning. 


30          ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY  ON  THE 

From  every  public  building  floated  the  emblems  of  sorrow, 
and  the  doors  and  windows  of  numerous  private  houses 
were  draped  in  sable.  The  streets  were  whitened  by  the 
early  snow  of  winter,  which  fell  with  blinding  fury  upon 
the  city.  The  sidewalks  were  thronged  with  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  men  and  women,  who,  unable  to  get  near  the 
house,  stood  exposed,  for  hours,  to  the  inclement  weather, 
waiting  to  see  the  long  and  melancholy  procession. 

To  dwell  at  length  upon  his  qualities  as  a  partisan  might 
offend  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion,  and  I  forbear.  But  even 
the  slightest  sketch  of  him  would  be  imperfect  without  some 
reference  to  his  partisan  character.  He  was  a  party  man.  He 
held  that  the  division  of  the  people  into  parties  was  essential 
to  the  balance  of  elective  institutions.  He  early  selected  for 
his  support  the  party  that  was,  in  his  judgment,  most  conform 
able  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  to  the  rights  and  liber 
ties  of  the  people,  and  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country ;  and 
having  deliberately  made  his  choice,  he  adhered  to  it  with  all 
the  tenacity  of  his  nature.  He  believed  in  strong  measures, 
and  had  no  confidence  in  half-way  methods  and  expedients. 
Whatever  was  right  and  proper  he  held  was  to  be  promoted  by 
all  legal  and  proper  means. 

He  died  as  he  would  have  preferred  to  die — suddenly,  pain 
lessly,  and  with  his  harness  on.  He  fell  as  the  warrior  falls, 
on  the  eve  of  battle,  with  his  sword  in  his  hand  and  his  shield 
upon  his  arm.  Death  was  kinder  to  him  than  it  often  is  to  the 
race  of  man,  to  all  of  whom  "  it  is  appointed  once  to  die."  No 
lingering  disease  wasted  that  stalwart  form  -,  no  protracted  suf 
fering  enfeebled  that  masculine  intellect.  The  Pale  Messenger, 
unheralded  and  unexpected,  summoned  him  in  the  vigor  of 
health  and  of  active  usefulness;  touched  him  with  his  wand,  and 
he  sank  to  eternal  sleep — no,  we  believe  he  rose  to  eternal  life. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER   OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.       31  j 

Address  of  Mr.  BAYARD,  of  Delaware. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  relations  I  have  held  with  the  deceased 
Senator  CHANDLER  have  arisen  only  as  a  consequence  of  ray 
service  as  a  member  of  this  body,  and  it  has  so  happened  that 
by  the  organization  of  political  parties  we  usually  found  our 
selves  in  decided  opposition  to  each  other. 

Of  his  political  opinions,  actions,  and  methods  I  will  not 
therefore  speak,  for  I  could  not  do  so  approvingly,  nor  would 
it  be  worthy  of  myself  or  of  him  to  attempt  qualification  or 
reconciliation  of  our  decided  opinions  on  policies  or  principles 
of  government — in  regard  to  which  few  men  differed  so  widely 
as  he  and  I. 

It  may  be  adopted  as  a  wise  rule  in  arriving  at  an  estimate 
of  men  and  their  careers,  to  precede  a  formation  of  judgment 
of  an  antagonist  by  the  inquiry,  "  How  would  we  have  re 
garded  the  action  of  our  adversary  had  his  energies  been 
exerted  in  favor  of  the  party  and  policies  with  which  we  our 
selves  have  been  allied  ?" 

May  it  not  well  be,  that  seen  thus  through  a  medium  of  sym 
pathetic  ends,  the  means  of  attainment  would  have  appeared 
somewhat  less  objectionable? 

In  the  maze  of  action  and  passion  of  daily  political  life  we 
are  not  apt  to  judge  men  justly,  and  may  easily  fail  equally 
to  appreciate  the  faults  of  an  ally  and  the  virtues  of  an 
opponent. 

But  there  were  traits  and  qualities  in  Mr.  CHANDLER  that 
all  men  may  dwell  upon  with  admiration  and  respect,  and 
which  I  have  now  a  melancholy  satisfaction  in  attesting. 

He  was  manly,  impulsive,  outspoken,  sincere,  and  generous ; 
an  open  but  not  implacable  foe,  and  a  steady  and  courageous 
friend. 


32 


ADDRESS   OF  MR.  BAYARD   ON  THE 


His  hand  was  open,  for  he  was  "  a  cheerful  giver."  He 
possessed  a  mind  of  superior  force  and  sagacity,  and  his  facul 
ties  for  the  administration  of  affairs  were  eminently  practical 
and  effective. 

In  one  important  respect  he  supplied  an  example  valuable 
in  any  government,  and  especially  in  one  so  popular  in  its  for 
ward  nature  as  our  own.  I  refer  to  the  fact  that  on  no  occa 
sion  was  Mr.  CHANDLER  known  to  use  his  official  position  for 
his  own  pecuniary  gain — directly  or  indirectly. 

His  death  has  ended  a  long  career  of  public  service  in 
executive  and  legislative  capacities,  and  throughout  his 
hands  were  ever  clean  of  unjust  or  illegitimate  gain,  nor 
did  his  bitterest  political  foe  (and  no  man  evoked  a  stronger 
personal  criticism)  ever  charge,  or  even  suspect  him,  with 
making  personal  profit  out  of  his  political  station  and  oppor 
tunities. 

He  was  a  man  of  vigorous,  frank  nature,  and  his  virtues  and 
his  faults  were  the  natural  outgrowth.  Free-handed  and  open- 
hearted,  he  kept  his  word,  despised  a  coward,  and  loathed  a 
hypocrite. 

Standing  now  as  it  were  above  his  newly  made  grave,  I  bear 
willing  testimony  to  these  personal  virtues,  and  can  recall 
many  instances  of  his  accommodating  kindness  and  personal 
courtesy,  which  rendered  the  transaction  of  business  with  him 
so  easy  and  agreeable. 

For  the  rest,  I  feel  that  we  are  too  near  the  years  of  his  act 
ive  political  career  to  express  positive  judgment. 

To  justly  measure  so  aggressive,  vigorous,  and  influential 
a  character  as  his,  it  must  be  viewed  at  a  little  distance,  as 
sculptors  often  ask  for  the  consideration  of  their  strongest  and 
most  rugged  works. 

Time  will  mellow,  and  reflection  will  soften  the  asperities 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER   OF  ZACIIARIAH   CHANDLER.       33 

and  animosities  caused  by  recent  and  heated  conflict  and 
which  may  obscure  somewhat  present  judgment. 

Mr.  President,  the  messenger  of  death  came  to  our  departed 
associate  suddenly,  and  in  the  very  midst  of  his  most  ardent 
and  strenuous  pursuits. 

Here  in  this  hall  of  public  deliberation,  once  more  are  we 
confronted  and  startled  by  the  foot-prints  of  the  Pale  Archer, 
whose  shafts  intended  surely  for  each  one  of  us  remain  as 
yet  in  the  quiver  unselected.  Busied  as  we  all  are  with  the 
thoughts  and  cares  of  daily  life,  should  we  not  pause  to-day, 
and  thinking  of  the  strong  man  who  has  been  so  suddenly 
called  from  our  side,  and  from  the  home  and  wide  circle  of 
friends,  to  whom  his  warm  heart  and  manly  qualities  so  en 
deared  him : — glance  down  the  inevitable  pathway  he  has  been 
called  upon  to  tread,  and  so  order  our  living  that  each  may 
not  fear  to  follow  in  his  turn! 


Address  of  Mr.  HAMLIN,  of  Maine. 

The  friendships  formed  in  this  body  in  long  association  are 
no  inconsiderable  compensation  for  the  labors  and  annoyance 
incident  to  senatorial  life.  While  patience  and  forbearance 
are  sometimes  exhausted  in  earnest,  extended,  and  at  times 
angry  debate,  and  many  things  are  said  and  done  in  zeal  which 
the  calmer  judgment  will  not  approve,  yet  the  ties  here  formed 
and  cemented  will  never  be  severed  in  life.  As  a  rule  these 
friendships,  differing  in  degree,  are  far  more  general  than  is 
supposed.  The  cases  are  rare  and  exceptional  where  associa 
tion  here  does  not  produce  a  cordial  and  sincere  greeting  as 
we  mingle  and  meet  along  the  pathway  of  life.  And  the  ac 
quaintance  formed  here  with  the  deceased  distinguished  Sena- 


5  c 


34  ADDRESS   OF  ME.   11AMLIN   ON   THE 

tor,  which  ripened  into  permanent  and  undisturbed  friendship, 
justifies  if  it  does  not  require  that  I  should  add  a  few  words  of 
personal  tribute  to  his  worth  and  memory  in  the  same  spirit 
with  which  the  friendly  hand  would  place  a  garland  of  flowers 
upon  his  new-made  grave.  Some  have  spoken  and  others 
will  speak  more  elaborately  of  his  public  life  and  valuable 
services. 

I  first  knew  of  Mr.  CHANDLER  as  a  distinguished  merchant 
in  the  city  of  Detroit,  where  he  had  become  eminent  for  his 
high  commercial  and  financial  integrity,  and  had  established  a 
business  reputation  which  extended  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
his  own  State.  In  one  of  those  financial  tornadoes  which  at 
times  disturbed  the  business  and  industries  of  our  country, 
when  older  and  apparently  more  firmly  established  houses 
were  wrecked  by  the  blast,  so  well  established  was  his  reputa 
tion  for  unquestioned  mercantile  capacity  and  integrity  that, 
when  himself  in  doubt  as  to  his  ability  to  withstand  the  crisis, 
on  consultation  with  those  with  whom  he  had  business  rela 
tions,  and  acting  under  their  united  advice  and  assurances  of 
support,  he  went  forward  triumphantly  and  successfully  out 
riding  the  storm.  An  honorable  merchant  of  known  and  un 
questioned  integrity,  he  was  at  all  times  entitled  to  receive 
and  did  receive  the  highest  consideration.  It  is  indeed  a 
priceless  legacy  which  he  has  left  to  his  family,  and  he  fur 
nishes  an  example  which  should  be  imitated  by  all  who  care 
to  be  honest.  His  sterling  character  in  that  regard  is  the 
brighter  in  times  like  these,  when  the  crime  of  repudiation 
stalks  at  noonday  and  finds  unblushing  advocates  among 
States  and  corporations  as  well  as  among  individuals.  It  is  a 
truth  that  cannot  be  too  often  or  earnestly  expressed,  that 
an  honest  man  is  God's  noblest  work. 

I  knew  of  the  Senator  also  as  a  distinguished  leader  in  the 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER   OF  ZACllAllIAU  CHANDLER.        35 

whig  party  in  the  days  of  its  strength  and  its  triumph.  He 
was  once  its  honored  leader  in  a  gubernatorial  contest  in  his 
State.  I  also  knew  of  him  well  as  one  of  the  prominent  and 
leading  men  in  the  State  of  Michigan  by  whose  counsels  and 
under  whose  guidance  the  republican  party  was  formed,  and 
those  who  thought  alike  were  induced  to  act  together;  a  party 
in  which  he  was  at  all  times  prominent,  and  to  which  he  ad 
hered  with  unwavering  fidelity  to  the  close  of  his  life ;  and  by 
which  he  won  that  national  confidence  and  respect  to  which 
he  was  so  eminently  entitled. 

But  I  became  personally  acquainted  with  Senator  CHAN 
DLER  on  that  day  when  we  were  sworn  in  as  members  of  this 
body,  and  at  the  time  when  he  first  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States. 

In  my  judgment,  the  most  prominent  and  distinguishing 
traits  in  the  character  of  Senator  CHANDLER  were  his  sincere 
convictions  of  what  he  believed  to  be  right,  and  his  indomitable 
courage  in  expressing  and  maintaining  those  convictions  re 
gardless  of  consequences.  He  who  possesses  those  character 
istics  may  always  have  enemies,  but  he  will  never  be  without 
friends.  I  have  myself  but  little  respect  for  that  man  who  has 
not  enough  of  character  to  make  an  enemy,  for  he  cannot  be 
worthy  to  claim  others  as  his  friends.  The  frankness  with 
which  Senator  CHANDLER  expressed  his  opinions  upon  all  oc 
casions  was  not  acceptable  to  many,  and  if  he  did  not  thereby 
incur  their  hostility  he  certainly  failed  to  attach  them  to  him 
as  friends.  But  none  were  left  in  doubt  as  to  the  position  he 
would  occupy  upon  any  question  in  regard  to  which  his  opin 
ions  were  known.  He  was  a  man  of  convictions  and  courage; 
never  a  man  of  policy  and  compromise ;  nor  did  he  believe  in 
that  timidity  which  in  effect  was  treason  to  right  and  justice. 

That  in  his  life  for  which  he  was  perhaps  held  in  the  highest 


36  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   HAMLIN   ON   THE 

esteem  by  the  loyal  people  of  this  country  was  the  zeal  and 
courage  he  displayed  and  the  labor  he  performed  in  maintain 
ing  the  supremacy  of  the  Government.  Many  there  were  who 
talked  more ;  few,  if  any,  who  labored  as  much  and  as  effect 
ively.  With  him  it  was  always  actions  rather  than  words. 
He  had  then,  as  at  all  times,  the  boldness  to  characterize 
things  and  events  by  their  right  names,  however  distasteful  it 
might  be  to  others.  I  would  award  all  honor  to  the  brave  men 
who  by  their  heroic  acts  and  undaunted  courage  have  been  so 
instrumental  in  advancing  the  best  interests  of  our  common 
country  in  the  field  or  on  the  ocean.  I  would  pluck  no  leaf 
from  the  wreaths  that  so  justly  adorn  their  brows.  I  yield  to 
none  in  the  respect  I  would  pay  to  them.  But  courage,  cool, 
deliberate,  unmistakable  courage,  is  as  requisite  and  is  as 
certainly  displayed  in  the  deliberative  councils  of  the  nation 
as  on  the  field  of  battle.  The  highest  courage  is  that  which 
always  dares  to  do  the  right  and  fears  only  to  do  the  wrong. 
The  victories  of  peace  are  more  important  than  those  of  war, 
and  to  those  who  win  them  the  highest  homage  is  due. 

Not  to  the  ensanguined  field  of  death  alone 

Is  valor  limited :  she  sits  serene 

In  the  deliberative  council,  sagely  scans 

The  sources  of  action,  weighs,  prevents,  provides, 

And  scorns  to  count  her  glories,  from  the  feats 

Of  brutal  force  alone. 

Those  of  us  who  were  so  long  associated  with  the  late  Sen 
ator  in  this  body  will  miss  him  exceedingly.  In  the  wisdom  of 
an  inscrutable  Providence,  his  seat  here  has  been  made  vacant. 
All  that  was  mortal  of  him  now  reposes  in  the  soil  of  his 
adopted  State,  which  he  had  honored  as  the  State  had  hon 
ored  him.  Those  who  knew  him  best  will  mourn  him  most, 
while  the  nation  pays  homage  to  his  memory  for  public  serv 
ices  so  grandly  performed. 


LIFE   AND    CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.        37 


Address  of  Mr.  BLAINE,  of  Maine. 

Mr.  CHANDLER  sprang  from  a  strong  race  of  men,  reared 
in  a  State  wbich  has  shed  luster  on  other  Commonwealths  by 
the  gift  of  her  native-born  and  her  native-bred.  She  gave 
Webster  to  Massachusetts,  Chief-Justice  Chase  to  Ohio,  Gen 
eral  Dix  to  New  York,  and  Horace  Greeley  to  the  head  of 
American  journalism.  Mr.  CHANDLER  left  New  Hampshire 
before  he  -attained  his  majority,  and  with  limited  pecuniary 
resources  sought  a  home  in  the  inviting  territory  of  the  North 
west.  He  had  great  physical  strength,  with  remarkable  pow 
ers  of  endurance,  possessed  energy  that  could  not  be  over 
taxed,  was  gifted  with  courage  of  a  high  order,  was  imbued 
with  principles  which  throughout  his  life  were  inflexible,  was 
intelligent  and  well  instructed,  and  in  all  respects  equipped 
for  a  career  in  the  great  and  splendid  region  where  he  lived 
and  grew  and  strengthened  and  prospered  and  died. 

For  a  long  period  following  the  second  war  with  Great  Brit 
ain  the  Territory  of  Michigan  was  governed  by  one  of  the 
most  persuasive  and  successful  of  American  statesmen,  whose 
pure  and  honorable  life,  whose  grace  and  kindness  of  manner, 
and  whose  almost  unlimited  power  in  what  was  then  a  remote 
frontier  Territory,  had  enabled  him  to  mould  the  vast  major 
ity  of  the  early  settlers  to  his  own  political  views.  When  Mr. 
CHANDLER  reached  Detroit  General  Cass  had  left  the  scene 
of  his  long  reign — for  reign  it  might  well  be  called — to  assume 
control  of  the  War  Department  under  one  of  the  strongest 
administrations  that  ever  governed  the  country.  The  great 
majority  of  young  men  at  twenty  years  of  age  naturally 
drifted  with  a  current  that  was  so  strong;  but  Mr.  CHANDLER 
had  inherited  certain  political  principles  which  were  strength 
ened  by  his  own  convictions  as  he  grew  to  manhood,  and  he 


38  ADDRESS   OF  MR.  ELAINE  ON  THE 

took  his  stand  at  once  and  firmly  with  the  minority.  He  was 
from  the  outset  a  strong  power  in  the  political  field ;  though 
not  until  his  maturer  years,  with  fortune  attained  and  the 
harder  struggles  of  life  crowned  with  victory,  would  he  con 
sent  to  hold  any  public  position.  But  he  was  in  all  the  fierce 
conflicts  which  raged  for  twenty  years  in  Michigan,  and  which 
ended  in  changing  the  political  mastery  of  the  State.  It  is 
not  matter  of  wonder  that  personal  estrangements  occurred  in 
such  prolonged  and  bitter  controversy,  without  indeed  the  loss 
of  mutual  respect,  and  in  one  of  the  most  exciting  periods  of 
the  struggle  General  Cass  spoke  publicly  of  not  enjoying  the 
honor  of  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  acquaintance.  It  was  just  three 
years  afterward,  as  Mr.  CHANDLER  delighted  to  tell  with  good- 
natured  and  pardonable  boasting,  that  he  carried  to  General 
Cass  a  letter  of  introduction  from  the  governor  of  Michigan 
which  so  impressed  the  General  that  he  caused  it  to  be  pub 
licly  read  in  this  Chamber  and  placed  on  the  permanent  files 
of  the  Senate.  It  is  to  the  honor  of  both  these  great  men  that 
complete  cordiality  of  friendship  was  restored,  and  that  in  the 
hour  of  supreme  peril  to  the  nation  which  came  soon  after, 
General  Cass  and  Mr.  CHANDLER  stood  side  by  side  in  main 
taining  the  Union  of  the  States  by  the  exercise  of  the  war 
power  of  the  government.  They  sleep  their  last  sleep  in  the 
same  beautiful  cemetery  near  the  city  which  was  so  long  their 
home,  under  the  soil  of  the  State  which  each  did  so  much  to 
honor,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  lakes  whose  commercial  devel 
opment,  spanned  by  their  lives,  has  been  so  greatly  promoted 
by  their  efforts. 

The  anti-slavery  agitation  which  broke  forth  with  such 
strength  in  1854,  following  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  com 
promise,  met  with  partial  reaction  soon  after,  and  in  1856  Mr. 
Buchanan  was  chosen  to  the  Presidency.  Mr.  CHANDLER 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARTAH  CHANDLER.       39 

took  his  seat  for  the  first  time  ill  this  body  on  the  day  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  inauguration.  It  was  the  first  public  station  he 
had  ever  held  except  the  mayoralty  of  Detroit  for  a  single 
term,  and  the  first  for  which  he  had  ever  been  a  candidate, 
except  when  in  1852  ho  consented  to  lead  the  forlorn  hope  of 
the  wliigs  in  the  contest  for  governor  of  Michigan.  When  he 
entered  the  Senate  the  democratic  party  bore  undisputed  sway 
in  this  Chamber,  having  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  entire 
body.  The  party  was  led  by  resolute,  aggressive,  able,  uncom 
promising  men,  who  played  for  a  high  stake  and  who  played 
the  bold  game  of  those  who  were  willing  to  cast  all  upon  the 
hazard  of  the  die.  The  party  in  opposition,  to  which  Mr. 
CHANDLER  belonged,  was  weak  in  numbers  but  strong  in 
character,  intellect,  and  influence.  Seward,  with  his  philoso 
phy  of  optimism,  his  deep  study  into  the  working  of  political 
forces,  and  his  affluence  of  rhetoric,  was  its  accepted  leader. 
He  was  upheld  and  sustained  by  Sumner,  with  his  wealth  of 
learning  and  his  burning  zeal  for  the  right;  by  Fessenden, 
less  philosophic  than  Seward,  less  learned  than  Sumner,  but 
more  logical  and  skilled  o'  fence  than  either ;  by  Wade,  who 
in  mettle  and  make-up  was  a  Cromwellian,  who,  had  he  lived 
in  the  days  of  the  Commonwealth,  would  have  fearlessly  fol 
lowed  the  Protector  in  the  expulsion  of  an  illegal  Parliament, 
or  drawn  the  sword  of  the  Lord  and  Gideon  to  smite  hip  and 
thigh  the  Amalekites  who  appeared  anew  in  the  persons  of 
the  cavaliers;  by  Collamer,  wise  and  learned,  pure  and  digni 
fied,  a  conscript  father  in  look  and  in  fact;  by  John  P.  Hale, 
who  never  faltered  in  his  devotion  to  the  anti-slavery  cause, 
and  who  had  earlier  than  any  of  his  associates  broken  his  alli 
ance  with  the  old  parties  and  given  his  eloquent  voice  to  the 
cause  of  the  despised  Nazarenes;  by  Trumbull,  acute,  able, 
untiring,  the  first  republican  Senator  from  that  great  State 


40  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   ELAINE   ON   THE 

which  has  since  added  so  much  to  the  grandeur  and  glory  of 
our  history ;  by  Hamlin,  with  long  training,  with  devoted  fidel 
ity,  with  undaunted  courage,  who  came  anew  to  the  conflict  of 
ideas  with  a  State  behind  him,  with  its  faith  and  its  force,  and 
who  alone  of  all  the  illustrious  Senate  of  1857  is  with  us  to 
day;  by  Cameron,  with  wide  and  varied  experience  in  affairs, 
with  consummate  tact  in  the  government  of  parties,  whose 
active  political  life  began  in  the  days  of  Monroe,  and  who, 
after  a  prolonged  and  stormy  career,  still  survives  by  reason  of 
strength  at  fourscore,  with  the  strong  attachment  of  his  friends, 
the  respect  of  his  opponents,  the  hearty  good  wishes  of  all. 

Into  association  with  these  men  Mr.  CHANDLER  entered 
when  in  his  forty-fourth  year.  His  influence  was  felt,  and  felt 
powerfully,  from  the  first  day.  A  writer  at  the  time  said  that 
the  effect  of  CHANDLER'S  coming  was  like  the  addition  of  a 
fresh  division  of  troops  to  an  army  engaged  in  a  hand-to-hand 
conflict  with  an  outnumbering  foe.  He  encouraged,  upheld,  in 
spired,  coerced  others  to  do  things  which  he  could  not  do  him 
self,  but  which  others  could  not  have  done  without  him.  His 
first  four  years  in  the  Senate  were  passed  in  a  hopeless  minor 
ity,  where  a  sense  of  common  danger  had  banished  rivalry, 
checked  jealousy,  toned  down  ambition,  and  produced  that 
effective  harmony  and  splendid  discipline  which  won  the  most 
signal  and  far-reaching  of  all  our  political  victories  in  the  elec 
tion  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency.  Changed  by  this 
triumph  and  the  startling  events  which  followed  into  a  major 
ity  party  in  the  Senate,  the  republicans  found  many  of  their 
oldest  and  ablest  leaders  trained  only  to  the  duties  of  the 
minority,  and  not  fitted  to  assume  with  grace  and  efficiency 
the  task  of  administrative  leadership.  They  had  been  so  long- 
studying  the  science  of  attack  that  they  were  awkward  when 
they  felt  the  need  and  assumed  the  responsibility  of  defense. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       41 

They  were  like*  some  of  the  British  regiments  in  the  campaign 
of  Namur,  of  whom  William  of  Orange  said  there  was  no  for 
tress  of  the  French  that  could  resist  them,  and  none  that  was 
safe  in  their  hands. 

It  was  from  this  period  that  Mr.  CHANDLER  became  more 
widely  known  to  the  whole  country — achieving  almost  at  a 
single  bound  what  we  term  a  national  reputation.  His  defiant 
attitude  in  the  presence  of  the  impending  and  overwhelming 
danger  of  war;  his  superb  courage  under  all  the  doubts  and 
reverses  of  that  terrible  struggle  between  brethren  of  the  same 
blood;  his  readiness  to  do  all  things,  to  dare  all  things,  to 
endure  all  things  for  the  sake  of  victory  to  the  Union;  his 
ardent  support  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  in  every  war 
measure  which  was  proposed ;  his  quickness  to  take  issue  with 
the  administration  when  he  thought  a  great  campaign  was 
about  to  be  ruined  by  what  was  termed  the  Fabian  policy ;  his 
inspiring  presence,  his  burning  zeal,  his  sleepless  vigilance,  his 
broad  sympathies,  his  prompt  decision,  his  eager  patriotism, 
his  crowning  faith  in  the  final  result,  all  combined  to  give  to 
Mr.  CHANDLEK  a  front  rank  among  those  honorable  and  de 
voted  men  who  in  our  war  history  are  entitled  to  stand  next  to 
those  who  led  the  mighty  conflict  on  the  field  of  battle. 

To  portray  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  career  for  the  ten  consecutive 
years  after  the  war  closed  would  involve  too  close  a  reference 
to  exciting  questions  still  in  some  sense  at  issue.  But  in  that 
long  period  of  service,  and  in  the  shorter  one  that  immediately 
preceded  his  death,  those  who  knew  him  well  could  observe  a 
constant  intellectual  growth.  He  was  fuller  and  stronger  and 
abler  in  conference  and  in  debate  the  last  year  of  his  life  than 
ever  before.  He  entered  the  Senate  originally  without  any 
practice  in  parliamentary  discussion.  He  left  it  one  of  the 
most  forcible  and  most  fearless  antagonists  that  could  be  en- 


G  c 


42  ADDRESS  OF  MB.  ELAINE   ON  THE 

countered  in  this  Chamber.  His  methods  were"  learned  here. 
He  was  plain  and  yet  eloquent;  aggressive  and  yet  careful; 
fearless  without  showing  bravado.  What  he  knew,  he  knew 
with  precision;  the  powers  he  possessed  were  always  at  his 
command,  and  he  never  declined  a  challenge  to  the  lists. 
"Here  and  now"  was  his  motto,  and  his  entire  senatorial 
career  and  his  life  indeed  outside  seemed  guided  by  that  spirit 
of  bravery  which  the  greatest  of  American  Senators  exhibited, 
in  the  only  boast  he  ever  made,  when  he  quoted  to  Mr.  Calhoun 
the  classic  defiance : 

Concurritur ;   horse 
Momento  cita  mors  venit,  aut  victoria  Iseta. 

Mr.  CHANDLER'S  fame  was  enlarged  by  his  successful  ad 
ministration  of  an  important  Cabinet  position.  Called  by 
President  Grant  to  the  head  of  the  Interior  Department  by 
telegraphic  summons,  he  accepted  without  reluctance  and 
without  distrust.  His  eighteen  years  of  positive  and  uncom 
promising  course  in  the  Senate  had  borne  the  inevitable  fruit 
of  many  enmities  as  well  as  the  rich  reward  of  countless 
friends.  The  appointment  was  severely  criticised  and  unspar 
ingly  condemned  by  many  who,  a  year  later,  were  sufficiently 
just  and  magnanimous  to  withdraw  their  harsh  words  and 
bear  generous  testimony  to  his  executive  ability,  his  pains 
taking  industry,  and  his  inflexible  integrity  ;  to  his  admirable 
talent  for  thorough  organization,  and  to  his  prompt  and  grace 
ful  dispatch  of  public  business.  What  his  friends  had  before 
known  of  his  character  and  his  capacity  the  chance  of  a  few 
brief  months  in  an  administrative  position  had  revealed  to  the 
entire  country  and  had  placed  in  history. 

It  would  not  be  just  even  in  the  generous  indulgence  con 
ceded  to  eulogy  to  speak  of  Mr.  CHANDLER  as  a  man  without 
faults.  But  assuredly  no  enemy,  if  there  be  one  above  his  life- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       43 

less  form,  will  ever  say  that  he  bad  mean  faults.  They  were 
all  on  the  generous  and  larger  side  of  his  nature.  In  amassing 
his  princely  fortune  he  never  exacted  the  pound  of  ilesh ;  he 
never  ground  the  faces  of  the  poor ;  he  was  never  even  harsh 
to  an  honest  debtor  unable  to  pay.  His  wealth  came  to  him 
through  his  own  great  ability,  devoted  with  unremitting  in 
dustry  for  a  third  of  a  century  to  honorable  trade  in  that 
enlarging,  ever-expanding  region,  whose  capacities  and  re 
sources  he  was  among  the  earliest  to  foresee  and  to  appreciate. 

To  his  friends  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  devotedly  true.  Like 
Colonel  Benton,  he  did  not  use  the  word  "friend"  lightly  and 
without  meaning.  Nor  did  he  ever  pretend  to  be  friendly  to  a 
man  whom  he  did  not  like.  He  never  dissembled.  To  describe 
him  in  the  plain  and  vigorous  Saxon  which  he  spoke  himself — 
he  was  a  true  friend,  a  hard  hitter,  an  honest  hater. 

In  that  inner  circle  of  home  life,  sacred  almost  from  refer 
ence,  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  chivalric  in  devotion,  inexhaustible 
in  affection,  and  exceptionally  happy  in  all  his  relations.  What 
ever  of  sternness  there  was  in  his  character,  whatever  of  rough 
ness  in  his  demeanor,  whatever  of  irritability  in  his  temper, 
were  one  and  all  laid  aside  when  he  sat  at  his  own  hearthstone, 
or  dispensed  graceful  and  generous  hospitality  to  unnumbered 
guests.  There  he  was  seen  at  his  best,  and  there  his  friends 
best  love  to  recall  him.  As  Burke  said  of  Lord  Keppel,  he 
was  a  wild  stock  of  pride  on  which  the  tenderest  of  hearts  had 
grafted  the  milder  virtues. 

A  sage  whose  words  have  comforted  many  generations  of 
men  tells  us  that  when  death  comes  every  one  can  see  its  de 
plorable  and  grievous  side— only  the  wise  can  see  causes  for 
reconcilement.  Let  us  be  wise  to  day  and  celebrate  the  mem 
ory  of  a  man  who  stood  on  the  confines  of  age  without  once 
feeling  its  weakness  or  realizing  its  decay;  who  passed  sixty- 


44  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  LOGAN  ON  THE 

six  years  iu  this  world  without  losing  a  single  day  of  mental 
activity  or  physical  strength;  who  had  a  business  career  of 
great  length  and  unbroken  prosperity ;  who  had  attained  in 
public  life  a  fourth  election  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
an  honor  enjoyed  by  fewer  men  in  the  Republic  than  even  its 
Chief  Rulership,  and  who  strengthening  with  his  years  stood 
higher  in  the  regard  of  his  countrymen,  stronger  with  his  con 
stituency,  nearer  to  his  friends,  and  dearer  to  his  kindred,  at 
the  close  of  his  career  than  on  any  preceding  day  of  his  event 
ful  life. 


Address  of  Mr.  LOGAN,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  Illinois  by  the  side  of  her  sister  State 
(Michigan)  mourns  with  her  the  loss  of  her  honored  son.  No 
language  of  mine  will  be  sufficiently  eloquent  to  portray  in 
fitting  terms  the  loss  we  all  feel  in  the  death  of  so  noble  and 
patriotic  a  man  as  was  our  brother  Senator. 

Twenty  years  ago,  sir,  in  this  city  I  made  his  acquaintance. 
We  then  differed  in  our  political  theories,  but,  sir,  there  was 
an  indescribable  something  that  attracted  me  and  caused  me 
to  like  the  man.  During  the  great  rebellion  against  this  Gov 
ernment  we  became  better  acquainted  and  better  friends,  and 
from  that  time  up  to  his  death  nothing  had  ever  marred  our 
kindly  relations.  I  learned  to  admire  him  more  and  more  as  I 
knew  him  better.  No  man  could  know  him  well  without  hav 
ing  great  respect  and  admiration  for  him. 

To  describe  him  merely  as  an  ordinary  man  would  be  to  do 
his  record  and  memory  great  injustice.  To  say  that  he  was  a 
very  great  man,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  is  generally 
understood,  might  be  considered  fulsome  praise;  but,  sir,  if 
greatness  consists  in  the  accomplishment  of  honest  purpose,  he 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER        •!."> 

was  truly  great.  The  sixty-six  years  that  have  passed  over 
his  head  were  to  him  replete  with  honor  ami  prosperity.  On 
whatever  line  he  moved  he  achieved  a  triumph.  Physically, 
he  was  a  model  of  stalwart  mold;  his  mental  structure  was 
strong  and  vigorous ;  in  energy  he  was  not  a  laggard  in  any 
thing  in  which  he  engaged.  He  was  a  thinker,  however  crude 
he  may  have  been  in  speech.  He  was  bold  in  his  expressions 
and  manly  in  his  utterances ;  his  powers  of  organization  and 
combination  were  unsurpassed.  Those  who  may  have  found 
themselves  in  opposition  to  him  on  any  line,  political  or  other 
wise,  can  well  attest  this  fact. 

He  was  not  only  a  man  of  thought,  but  of  action ;  he  was 
generous,  kind,  true,  and  faithful ;  his  bosom  welled  up  and 
overflowed  with  the  milk  of  human  kindness ;  his  heart  was 
large  enough  to  embrace  within  its  sympathies  all  classes ;  his 
watchword  ever  was  liberty  and  protection  to  all.  He  was  a 
patriot  in  the  broadest  sense  in  which  that  term  is  understood. 
During  his  country's  severest  trials  his  services  in  her  behalf 
in  giving  aid  and  encouragement  to  the  people  of  his  own  State 
and  in  the  councils  of  the  nation  by  his  bold  and  fearless 
course  were  great.  When  the  storm  of  secession  was  fiercest 
he  was  boldest ;  as  trials  came  he  rose  with  the  emergency ;  in 
the  darkest  night  he  was  one  of  the  most  steadfast  stars.  Sir, 
he  was  by  nature  a  leader  and  controller  of  men,  possessing  all 
the  necessary  qualities  that  would  have  fitted  him  for  a  great 
field-marshal,  the  energy,  the  boldness,  the  judgment,  the  de 
cision,  the  courage,  with  the  capacity  for  action  and  council. 
He  was  the  builder  of  his  own  fortunes,  and  the  molder  of  his 
own  sentiments,  a  man,  sir,  true  and  steadfast  to  his  friends, 
and  one  who  never  asked  or  begged  quarter  from  an  enemy. 
Yet,  he  was  just  at  all  times  to  friend  and  foe.  His  frankness 
and  freedom  of  expression  at  times  gave  offense,  when  by  a 


46  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  LOGAN  ON  THE 

different  course  lie  might  have  made  his  pathway  smoother, 
but  he  chose  to  be  candid  and  honest.  ^  By  this  manly  course 
(as  is  frequently  the  case)  he  became  the  subject  of  much  crit 
icism  and  vituperation  from  a  class  of  people  that  constantly 
revel  in  calumny.  But,  sir,  he  moved  on  in  his  upright  course, 
as  became  a  man  of  worth,  so  that  before  his  death  he  had 
passed  through  the  mist  and  clouds  of  detraction,  and  stood 
out  from  among  and  above  them  in  the  full  brightness  of  a 
glorious  vindication. 

The  evil  that  men  do,  lives  after  them ; 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones. 

But,  sir,  in  the  case  of  the  deceased  Senator  his  good  deeds 
were  so  vividly  marked  that  they  will  live  after  him  in  imper 
ishable  glory,  while  the  mistakes  he  may  have  made  (those  con 
strued  into  evil)  were  of  such  insignificance  that  they  will  soon 
be  lost  in  the  great  ocean  of  forgetfulness. 

But,  sir,  in  paying  this  tribute  to  his  memory,  I  do  not  choose 
to  speak  of  his  different  official  acts.  I  prefer  to  leave  that 
duty  to  others,  and  to  let  the  history  of  his  country  speak  of 
these,  along  with  the  ages  as  they  pass.  His  official  record,  as 
a  whole,  is  a  grand  one,  and  requires  no  barren  eulogy  at  my 
hands. 

Mr.  President,  on  the  last  day  of  his  life,  in  company  with 
one  other  gentleman,  I  came  with  him  from  Janesville,  Wis 
consin,  to  Chicago.  He  was  apparently  in  excellent  health. 
On  the  way  once  he  complained  of  slight  indigestion.  At 
about  twelve  o'clock  I  left  him  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel. 
About  five  o'clock  that  afternoon  I  called  at  his  room,  and 
found  him  then  in  exceedingly  good  spirits  and  looking  in  fine 
condition.  At  7.30  he  went  to  McCormick's  Hall.  There  I  sat 
by  his  side  on  the  stage.  At  about  eight  o'clock  he  was  intro 
duced  by  the  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Auxiliary  Club 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.        47 

[Mr.  Collier]  to  u  grand  audience  composed  of  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemeii. 

He  commenced  slowly,  but  warmed  up  with  his  subject  until 
he  became  so  eloquent  and  forcible  in  his  language  and  illus 
trations  that  the  audience,  in  the  midst  of  his  speech,  arose 
with  one  accord  and  gave  three  cheers.  No  orator  during  an 
address  in  the  city  of  Chicago  ever  received  more  marked 
attention  or  greater  applause.  He  created  an  enthusiasm  that 
carried  all  along  with  it  like  the  rushing  force  of  a  mighty 
storm.  This,  sir,  was  the  grandest  triumph  of  his  life,  and  he 
felt  it  to  be  so. 

He  stood  forth  before  that  grand  audience  like  a  giant,  and 
with  full-volumed  voice  spoke  like  a  Webster  or  a  Douglas. 
His  words  were  well  chosen ;  his  sentences  terse  and  complete, 
abounding  in  wit,  humor,  and  happy  local  hits ;  his  logic  came 
like  hot  shot  in  the  din  of  battle,  crashing  through  the  oaks  of 
the  forest.  One  of  his  last  sentences  still  rings  in  my  ears, 
"Shut  up  your  stores,  shut  up  your  manufactories,  and  go  to 
work  for  your  country."  The  effect  of  this  last  speech  of  Sen 
ator  CHANDLER  was  electrical ;  its  influence  is  still  felt  among 
the  business  men  of  Chicago.  The  meeting  adjourned  with 
great  demonstrations  in  favor  of  the  speaker.  He  left  the  hall 
and  went  directly  to  his  room  and  soon  retired  to  rest. 

The  next  morning  I  was  sitting  with  my  family  at  breakfast, 
in  the  Palmer  House;  a  gentleman  came  into  the  dining-room 
in  great  haste  and  spoke  to  me,  saying,  "  LOGAN,  your  friend 
is  dead — found  in  his  room,  dead." 

Sir,  I  arose  and  bowed  my  head ;  my  heart  was  tilled  with 
grief  and  sorrow.  I  repaired  at  once  to  the  room  occupied  by 
the  Senator  in  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel,  and  there,  sir,  he  lay, 
in  the  cold  and  icy  embrace  of  death. 

Yes,  sir,  dead !     He  is  gone  from  us.     We  will  hear  him  no 


48  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   LOGAN   ON   THE 

more ;  his  voice  is  hushed  in  silence  forever.  In  his  room,  no 
one  being  present  with  him,  in  the  lonely  and  solemn  gloom  of 
the  night,  he  had  passed  from  life  unto  death,  and  in  such  a 
peaceful  manner  that  the  angel  of  death  must  have  whispered 
the  message  so  softly  and  gently  that  he  knew  not  his  coming. 
But,  sir,  what  a  shock  it  was  to  the  living.  As  the  fall  of  the 
stalwart  oak  causes  a  trembling  in  the  surrounding  forest,  so 
did  the  fall  of  Senator  CHANDLER  cause  the  tender  chords  of 
the  hearts  of  this  people  to  vibrate  with  the  tender  touch  of 
sympathy  everywhere. 

Sir,  the  day  after  his  death  we  took  his  remains  from  this 
lonely  chamber  to  his  home  in  Detroit,  and  there,  in  the  midst 
of  his  grief-stricken  family,  gently  laid  them  down.  A  deep, 
mournful  silence  hung  heavily  over  the  old  family  mansion. 

One  unbroken  gloom  seemed  to  rest  on  the  clustered  trees, 
where  the  feathered  songsters  in  spring-time  had  cheered  the 
happy  family  with  notes  of  sweetest  music.  The  wintry  chill 
from  the  snow-blasts  without  was  but  a  faint  type  of  the  deep 
sadness  which  hung  like  a  pall  over  every  heart.  Even  the 
sighing  wind  that  swept  around  in  its  saddened  wail  seemed 
to  chant  a  requiem  for  the  departed  Senator.  Well  might  his 
friends  weep  at  their  own  as  well  as  their  country's  loss.  In 
deed,  he  was  a  man  of  whom  all  may  speak  in  praise,  and  upon 
whose  bier  all  may  drop  the  tear  of  sorrow.  When  earth  re 
ceived  him  she  took  to  her  bosom  one  of  her  manly  sons,  and 
when  Paradise  bade  his  spirit  come  a  noble  one  entered  there. 

Mr.  President,  time  brings  lessons  that  teach  us  that  hope 
does  not  perish  when  the  stars  of  life  refuse  longer  to  give 
light. 

The  death  of  our  brother  Senator  and  those  still  closely 
following  him  should  constantly  warn  us  of  the  fact  that  we 
are  traveling  to  "the  undiscovered  country,  from  whose  bourn 


LIFE   AND  CHARACTER   OF  ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLER.       49 

no  traveler  returns."  'Tis  true  the  grave  in  its  silence  gives 
forth  no  voice,  nor  whispers  of  the  morrow,  but  there  is  a 
voice  borne  upon  the  lips  of  the  morning  zephyrs  that  lets 
fall  a  whisper,  quickening  the  heart  with  a  knowledge  that 
there  is  an  abode  beyond  the  tomb.  Sir,  our  lamps  are  burn 
ing  now,  some  more  brightly  than  others;  some  shed  their 
light  from  the  mountain's  top,  others  from  the  lowly  vales; 
but  let  us  so  trim  them  that  they  may  all  burn  with  equal 
brilliancy  when  relighted  in  our  mansions  beyond  the  myste 
rious  river. 

I  fondly  hope,  sir,  that  there  we  will  again  meet  our  departed 
,  friend. 


Address  of  Mr.  MORRILL,  of  Vermont. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  The  manly  features  which  stood  forth  in 
the  character  of  our  deceased  associate,  like  those  of  his  com 
manding  person,  were  so  rounded  and  full,  so  distinctly  pro 
nounced,  that  they  could  not  fail  to  give  the  same  impression 
to  all  observers,  and  hence  our  tributes  to-day  may  wear  the 
aspect  of  photographs  of  the  same  figure,  with  merely  varia 
tions  of  posture.  After  the  eloquent  full-length  representa 
tions  already  supplied,  I  shall  only  briefly  point  out  what  I 
have  learned  to  consider  as  among  the  distinctive  character 
istics  of  that  life  and  form  which  lately  gave  such  robust 
assurance  of  length  of  days,  but  which,  to  our  sorrow,  has 
been  swiftly  summoned,  as  we  all  soon  must  be,  to  that  world 
of  light  and  hope  where  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

The  late  Senator  CHANDLER,  as  all  may  know,  was  born  in 
the  southeastern  border  of  New  Hampshire,  a  region  which 
has  been  wondrously  fruitful  of  distinguished  statesmen  whose 
fortune  it  was  to  be  sent  here  and  long  retained  as  Senators 


7  c 


50  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   MORRILL   ON   THE 

from  other  and  more  populous  States.  Among  these  eminent 
men  were  Webster  and  Wilson  from  Massachusetts,  Dix  from 
New  York,  Chase  from  Ohio,  Grimes  from  Iowa,  and  Cass  from 
Michigan,  who  was  superseded  by  him  whose  decease  we  now 
lament.  These  men,  going  where  they  would,  were  sure  to 
leave  their  "foot-prints  on  the  sands  of  time,"  and  were  never 
less  than  the  peers  of  the  foremost  men  in  this  body,  of  which 
Mr.  CHANDLER  was  so  recently  a  conspicuous  member,  dear  to 
us  and  to  his  own  people. 

As  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Michigan,  his  ambition  was, 
through  sterling  integrity  and  unflinching  resolution,  to  grasp 
business  on  a  comprehensive  scale,  and  he,  with  others,  made, 
Detroit,  from  a  small  town,  a  commercial  metropolis  thoroughly 
equipped  to  meet  the  wants  of  trade  in  a  great  and  rapidly- 
growing  State.  From  the  start  he  never  underrated  the  mag 
nificence  of  western  prairies  or  western  forests,  nor  their  pres 
ent  or  prospective  power,  and  there  he  found  a  congenial 
home. 

Upon  his  first  entrance  into  this  Chamber  he  brought  with 
him  the  same  invincible  energy  that  had  crowned  a  successful 
mercantile  career.  Having  led  a  busy  life,  with  daily  oppor 
tunities,  through  extensive  observation,  to  acquire  knowledge, 
he  was  already  a  man  of  affairs,  whose  ripened  judgment  com 
manded  respect;  and  among  measures  he  was  not  slow  to  fix 
upon  the  possible  best  rather  than  the  doubtful,  or,  among 
men,  to  select  the  competent  rather  than  the  incompetent. 
When  he  would  lead,  he  boldly  marched  in  front,  nor  sought 
to  elude  the  fire  of  adversaries.  Wasting  no  time  in  the  con 
sideration  of  the  rubbish  born  of  ill-starred  experiments,  magic- 
lantern  illusions,  or  incomprehensible  theories,  he  aimed  with 
fearless  self-reliance  at  once  to  reach  surefooted,  solid-sense 
conclusions,  shirking  neither  work  nor  danger,  and  bringing 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAII   CHANDLER.       51 

both  the  strength  and  courage  which  he  so  often  found  to  tri 
umph  over  all  difficulties. 

For  many  years  in  the  Senate  he  was  chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Commerce — no  other  so  long — and  conducted  its 
business  with  unflagging  fidelity  and  praiseworthy  economy. 
An  instance  of  the  latter  occurred  when  a  bill,  reported  by 
him  for  river  and  harbor  improvements,  had  been  overloaded 
here  with  many  prodigal  additions,  and,  rather  than  to  bear 
the  responsibility  of  an  overgrown  expenditure,  he  helped  to 
kill  the  original  offspring  of  his  own  committee,  by  a  vote  to 
table  the  bill.  That  year  no  appropriation  was  made  for  such 
objects,  and,  if  there  was  any  log-rolling  greed,  it  received  a 
check. 

Mr.  CHANDLER  was  intensely  loyal  to  the  Republic — not  to 
a  sham,  nor  to  such  "stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of" — but  to 
a  sovereignty  under  organic  law,  able  and  ready  to  give  back 
to  its  citizens  something  in  return  for  all  services  demanded. 
He  would  have  been  ashamed  of  a  w^ak,  spineless,  and  rickety 
republic,  or  one  on  any  Spanish-American  pattern,  having  no 
iron  in  its  blood,  and  ready  to  break  down  at  the  first  hostile 
prommciamento;  but  he  was  proud  of  that  which  stands  forth 
great  both  in  peace  and  war,  and  by  its  regard  for  law  and 
order,  by  its  devotion  to  human  rights,  by  its  adherence  to 
every  pledge  of  public  faith,  by  its  matchless  march  of  free 
dom  and  its  progressive  spirit,  has  also  shown  itself  worthy  to 
rule  and  protect,  with  an  imperishable  vitality,  the  American 
continent. 

The  attitude  of  foreign  nations  during  the  late  rebellion 
could  not  fail  to  be  watched  by  our  people,  as  it  was  by  Sen 
ator  CHANDLER,  with  constant  solicitude,  not — whatever  that 
attitude  might  have  been — as  throwing  any  doubt  upon  the 
final  triumph  of  the  Union  arms,  but  as  a  contingency  which 


52  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   MORRILL   ON   THE 

at  times  threatened  to  prolong  a  bloody  contest  and  to  multi 
ply  its  griefs.  Our  Bepublic,  it  is  not  to  be  concealed,  had  a 
few  hearty  friends  among  the  monarchs  and  oligarchs  of  Eu 
rope,  but  we  now  know  that  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain,  in 
spite  of  the  sinister  advice  of  Napoleon  the  Villain,  was  wiser 
and  less  unfriendly  than  any  of  her  colonies,  or  than  some  of 
her  ministers,  who  vainly  hoped  to  gain  untold  advantages 
by  breaking  up  the  American  Government  into  smaller  and 
possibly  less  formidable  proportions.  Senator  CHANDLER, 
however,  never  lacking  audacity  to  defend  the  national  life  at 
all  hazards,  was  one  of  those  who  did  not  believe  the  United 
States  were  any  too  large,  and  he  had  an  abiding  faith  that 
its  power  would  always  be  growing  larger.  His  home  con 
fronted  the  western  gateway  to  a  large,  but  not  invulnerable, 
British  province,  and  he  was  wont  to  be  impatient — genial  as 
was  his  natural  temperament — that  the  government  of  a  great 
and  kindred  people,  bound  to  us  also  by  paramount  com 
mercial  interests,  should  ^u  such  a  crisis  take  a  hostile  or  even 
a  doubtful  position,  which  he  thought  would  have  been  most 
carefully  if  not  fraternally  avoided,  provided  our  forces  by 
land  and  sea  had  not  been  supposed  to  be  fully  employed 
against  those  to  whom  "belligerent  rights"  had  been  wrong 
fully  conceded.  Senator  CHANDLER'S  repeated  denunciations 
of  the  primarily  responsible  party  to  the  piratical  raids  of  the 
Alabama  and  Shenandoah  were  loud  and  unstinted,  and  he 
insisted  that,  for  these  and  other  national  wrongs,  we  held  a 
valid  lien  upon  the  Canadas  to  be  enforced  at  our  will  and 
pleasure.  He  gave  utterance  in  the  white  heat  of  the  strife 
to  some  rather  angry  philippics,  but  the  gentle  sway  of  the 
Queen  saved  our  people  from  any  attempt  to  show,  as  no 
doubt  many  were  eager  to  show,  that  there  was  method  in  the 
Senator's  madness.  As  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Com- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTEE   OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       53 

merce,  be  could  not  look  with  composure  upon  the  capture 
of  American  ships  nor  upon  their  forced  transfer  to  escape 
capture,  and  he  resented  the  foul  blow  by  which  the  ancient 
mistress  of  the  ocean  appeared  to  profit. 

If,  then,  he  showed  some  bitterness  to  foreigners  whose 
sympathies  were  openly  against  us  during  the  war,  we  may 
not  wonder  at,  and  should  pardon,  his  profounder  indignation 
that  any  one  of  his  own  countrymen,  without  provocation, 
should  have  been  so  dead  to  patriotism  as  to  be  willing  that 
the  nation  should  perish,  or  to  forget  that 

This  is  my  own,  my  native  land. 

For  a  violent  and  bloody  rebellion,  against  a  government 
wholly  free  and  popular,  any  tolerance  seemed  to  him  too 
much  and  any  chastisement  too  little.  But  it  was  the  rectifica 
tion  of  national  authority  he  sought — not  personal  vengeance. 

In  1875,  soon  after  a  protracted  service  of  eighteen  years  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  covering  great  epochs  and  crises  in 
our  history,  he  was  appointed,  by  President  Grant,  Secretary 
of  the  Department  of  the  Interior — a  Department  of  the  Gov 
ernment  which,  perhaps,  through  its  multifarious  branches,  is 
more  than  any  other  directly  seen  and  felt  by  the  people.  The 
Patent,  Pension,  Land,  and  Indian  Bureaus — to  say  nothing 
of  the  educational  and  census  dependencies — each  and  all  re 
quire  the  perpetual  and  vigilant  supervision  of  the  Secretary, 
and  it  may  be  said  that  no  other  Department  is  more  exposed 
to  public  criticism  or  to  private  suspicion;  but  when  Mr. 
CHANDLER  entered  this  new  and  untried  field  of  duties,  he  at 
the  outset  exhibited  his  mastery  by  organizing  every  branch 
of  the  service  upon  "  business  principles,"  and  thus  its  vast, 
machinery,  reaching  to  our  remotest  boundaries,  moved  with 
out  noise  and  without  friction.  The  confidence  of  the  people 
in  the  integrity  and  efficiency  of  the  Department  of  the  Inte- 


54  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   MORRILL   ON  THE 

rior  became  complete,  and  when  tbe  Secretary  left  the  office 
he  had,  as  an  executive  officer,  largely  advanced  a  reputation 
already  national. 

At  our  last  session  he  reappeared  here,  returned  for  the 
fourth  time,  in  his  senatorial  character,  but  alas !  only  to  re 
main  long  enough  to  show  to  him  the  unending  attachment 
of  his  people — to  us  the  brittleness  of  human  life. 

Along  with  a  stalwart  frame,  he  carried  a  stalwart  will,  and 
was  blessed  with  that  outspoken  decision  of  character  which 
leans  not  to  the  right  nor  left  to  obtain  support.  Physically 
and  mentally  he  was  muscular,  and,  if  he  could  have  been  vain 
of  anything,  as  he  was  not,  it  might  have  been  as  an  athlete. 
He  never  complained  of  overwork,  whether  that  work  was  offi 
cial,  or  on  the  stump,  on  the  "  conduct  of  the  war,"  or  on  the 
conduct  of  his  model  farm,  which  for  some  years  had  mostly 
engaged  his  affections  and  fully  justified  his  pride.  Not  un 
mindful  of  the  rank  won  and  worn  as  a  merchant,  nor  of  the 
honor  he  kept  bright  as  a  Senator,  he  yet  at  heart  and  at  home 
preferred  to  be  known  as  a  great  farmer,  and  as  such,  with  all 
the  rest  added,  he  will  be  known  and  long  remembered  by  the 
people  of  the  State  he  loved  so  well. 

Senator  CHANDLER  was  a  partisan,  never  neutral,  but  a 
republican  of  the  straitest  sect.  By  no  free-trade  tariff 
would  he  build  up  foreign  trade  on  a  degraded  people,  nor 
build  up  a  gambling  home  trade  on  money  intrinsically  un 
sound.  He  was  a  stanch  friend  of  internal  improvements, 
and  on  such  questions  as  the  equality  of  man  before  the  law, 
land  for  the  landless,  schools  for  the  illiterate,  he  might  almost 
be  styled  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews.  He  believed  in  republi 
can  men  and  measures,  and  so  believed  because  to  him  they 
were  nothing  less  than  the  custodians  and  sure  promises  of  the 
honor  and  prosperity  of  the  country.  His  opinions,  based 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       55 

upon  full  and  life-long  convictions,  were  stoutly  held,  and  did 
not  ebb  and  flow  with  every  change  of  the  moon.  He  was  not 
a  frequent  speaker  in  the  Senate,  and  his  wit  never  got  blunted 
by  having  too  fine  a  point,  but  when  he  did  speak,  having  some 
thing  to  say,  his  words  were  so  hearty  and  straightforward 
that  neither  friend  nor  foe  could  deny  their  ringing  force  or 
misinterpret  their  meaning. 

Never  claiming  the  glittering  refinements  or  eloquence  of 
schools,  nor  trying  to  escape  oblivion  by  rhetoric,  yet  his  aid 
as  a  campaign  speaker  was  widely  sought,  and  the  remarkable 
speech  delivered  by  him  on  the  evening  destined  to  be  his  last 
upon  earth,  may  be  cited  as  an  example  of  his  vigor,  pungency, 
and  effectiveness  as  a  political  orator. 

And  thus  we  bid  adieu  to  a  strong  man,  to  a  true  and  loyal 
spirit,  to  him  whose  impassioned  devotion  to  his  whole  country 
was  only  comparable  to  the  tender  love  he  bore  in  all  his  rela 
tions  as  a  sou,  husband,  and  father. 


Address  of  Mr.  BLAIR,  of  New  Hampshire. 

Mr.  PRESEDENT  :  The  man  whose  obsequies  are  now  being 
celebrated  in  the  august  halls  of  the  Capitol  was  one  of  the 
extraordinary  characters  of  American  history. 

His  career  from  the  hearthstone  to  the  tomb  was  one  of 
singular  individuality  and  power.  It  was  one  constant  and 
successful  struggle  between  great  native  forces  marshaled  by 
an  heroic  and  aggressive  soul,  and  every  form  of  opposition  to 
his  personal  advancement  and  to  the  purposes  of  a  patriotic 
public  life;  yet  he  never  encountered  an  obstacle  which  he  did 
not  destroy.  He  wa«  over  all  mortal  combatants  conqueror, 
until  on  the  very  summit  of  victory,  at  the  close  of  a  stern  and 
incessant  warfare  prolonged  for  nearly  seventy  years,  with  his 


56  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   BLAIR   ON   THE 

eye  still  burning  like  the  eagle's,  aud  his  arm  still  raised  in 
mighty  action,  Death  killed  him  as  with  a  feather,  and  the 
commanding  form  was  forever  still ;  the  strong  intellect,  the 
storm-compelling  will,  and  imperial  soul  vanished  from  sub 
lunary  affairs.  There  was  not  even  a  premonitory  suggestion, 
the  tinkling  of  a  servant's  bell  ;  not  one  lifted  finger  of  friend 
ship,  not  one  parting  tear  of  love. 

When  shall  the  promise  of  inspiration  be  fulfilled  ?  When 
shall  Death,  the  last  enemy,  be  himself  destroyed  ?  In  this 
presence  God  alone  is  great. 

ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  was  a  son  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
the  State  which  even  in  these  latter  days  has  given  to  the 
country  some  of  the  greatest  men  of  modern  or  of  any  times — 
among  them  Cass,  and  Hale,  and  Wilson,  and  Chase,  and  the 
colossal  genius  of  Webster — is  proud  to  add  his  name  to  the 
long  list  of  her  heroes,  philanthropists,  and  statesmen.  Born 
and  nurtured  among  the  grand  and  beautiful  scenes  of  mount 
ain,  valley,  lake,  and  stream  which  have  given  to  New  Hamp 
shire  the  name  of  the  Switzerland  of  America,  Mr.  CHANDLER 
felt  from  childhood  that  his  future  lay  in  the  vast  possibilities 
of  the  West ;  that  there  alone  was  room  for  the  energy  and 
enterprise  of  his  unfolding  powers,  and  that  he  must  conse 
crate  his  strong  arm  and  his  sagacious,  indomitable,  and  free 
dom-loving  soul  to  the  development  of  the  great  central  region 
of  the  Republic.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  departed  from 
Bedford,  near  Manchester,  the  home  of  his  youth,  where  still 
abound  affectionate  memories  of  his  marked  qualities  indic 
ative  of  the  coming  man,  and  planted  himself  on  the  shores  of 
the  great  lake  which  constitues  the  focus  of  our  inland  com 
merce,  and  which  has  given  its  name  to  one  of  the  happiest 
and  most  powerful  of  American  Commonwealths.  There  dur 
ing  forty-six  years,  comprising  the  most  remarkable  period  of 


NJ  '/  /   'V 

LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER//;  &1 

f  j  I 

our  domestic  development  and,  I  think,  of  our  national  his 
tory,  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  more  than  any  other  of  her  citi 
zens,  was  the  State  of  Michigan  ;  and  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  with  but  few  exceptions,  as  much  as  any  other  one 
man,  he  has  shaped  the  destinies  of  the  United  States. 

While  for  one-fourth  of  a  century  he  was  a  conspicuous 
figure  in  public  affairs,  I  do  not  deny  that  others  may  have 
filled  a  larger  space  in  the  gazettes,  and  a  few — a  very  few- 
may  have  been  more  important  factors  in  the  course  of  events. 
Yet  I  know  not  of  ten  men  in  his  generation  who,  in  my  belief, 
have  furnished  so  much  of  courage  and  fidelity ;  of  will-power 
and  aggressiveness,  tempered  by  discretion  and  common  sense ; 
of  stanch  and  granitic  consecration  to  conviction;  of  deep, 
unvarying  purpose,  which  defied  calamity  and  laughed  at 
vicissitude;  of  staying  and  recuperating  power  in  adversity  as 
well  as  of  tremendous  energy  in  the  hour  of  decisive  action, 
as  the  man  to  whose  memory  this  brief  hour  is  given. 

Mr.  CHANDLER  was  sometimes  considered  harsh  in  his  feel 
ings  toward  political  opponents,  and  notably  toward  a  section 
of  our  common  country  whose  people  were  specially  identified 
with  political  principles  which  he  rejected,  and  an  institution 
which  it  was  one  of  the  great  purposes  of  his  life  to  destroy. 
But  never  beat  gentler  heart  in  the  breast  of  woman.  His 
blood  coursed  in  molten  tides  of  hate  toward  every  appear 
ance  of  wrong,  and  of  love  for  every  portion  of  his  country 
and  for  all  mankind.  His  giant  form  and  rugged  outlines 
were  the  home  of  one  of  the  most  magnanimous  natures  I  ever 
knew.  His  eyes  were  full  of  tears  for  every  form  of  distress ; 
his  hand  was  full  of  relief.  His  life  is  a  record  of  unobtrusive 
and  unselfish  good  deeds. 

He  was  a  radical,  but  a  radical  is  the  only  true  conservative./' 
He  had  plowed  deep,  and  he  knew  the  fundamental  principles 


8  c 


58 


ADDRESS   OF  MR.   BLAIR   ON   THE 


of  things.  He  knew  that  principles  never  temporize,  no  mat 
ter  what  those  may  do  who  profess  them ;  that  they  are  exact 
ing  and  inexorable,  and  utterly  regardless  of  the  state  of  the 
vote  or  the  count,  whether  fair  or  false ;  that  they  cannot  be 
waived  or  violated  or  suppressed  or  conciliated.  He  knew, 
and  what  he  knew  he  felt,  that  principles  will  -always  have 
their  day  in  court,  and  that  against  us  or  our  children  God  will 
give  them  judgment  and  execution  and  satisfaction  thereof 
to  the  uttermost  farthing  for  their  every  violation.  He  had 
seen  death  and  destruction,  the  fell  officers  of  eternal  justice, 
abroad  in  the  land  levying  upon  the  very  life  of  our  own  gen 
eration  the  tremendous  damages  which  three  centuries  of  out 
raged  humanity  had  recovered  against  this  nation,  and  he 
knew  that,  unless  the  present  and  future  should  conform  abso 
lutely  to  the  eternal  principles  of  right  and  do  impartial  just 
ice  to  the  feeblest  human  being  within  our  borders,  tears  and 
woe  and  death  will  pay  for  it  to  the  last  fraction  of  our  treas 
ure  and  the  last  drop  of  our  blood.  Therefore  was  he  stalwart ; 
therefore  did  he  grieve  over  the  vanities  of  conciliation  when 
he  thought  that  principles  elementary  and  sacred  were  sacri 
ficed  in  the  vain  hope  that  peace  would  come  from  their  viola 
tion  ;  that  God  would  be  mocked  out  of  his  intelligence  and 
purposes,  and  permit  the  tiniest  child  to  be  robbed  of  the 
smallest  right  with  impunity.  He  felt  that  the  nation  and  the 
statesman  who  temporize  and  tamper  with  principles  are  play 
ing  with  the  hottest  fire  of  Heaven's  wrath,  and  that  there  is 
no  true  conservatism  which  does  not  consist  in  the  most  radi 
cal  application  of  immutable  justice  to  every  race  and  individ 
ual  among  men. 

/  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  only  radical  against  what  he  understood 
to  be  wrong.  He  distinguished  between  the  wrong  and  the 
wrong-doer.  While  he  hated  the  former  he  would  rescue  the 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHAUIAH   CHANDLER.        59 


latter,  who  is  as  often  a  victim  as  an  aggressor.  His  war 
was  upon  systems  and  policies,  not  upon  individuals  and 
communities. 

He  was  as  anxious  for  the  prosperity  and  happiness  and  as 
jealous  of  the  renown  of  the  South  as  of  the  Xorth.  He  was 
great  and  broad,  and  would  have  been  beloved  by  Washing 
ton  and  Madison  and  Jefferson  and  by  the  whole  family  of 
patriots  who  worshiped  the  principles  of  the  great  Declara 
tion  which  they  promulgated,  and  who  "  trembled  for  their 
country  when  they  remembered  that  God  was  just." 

It  may  be  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  strong  partisan.  This 
is  only  to  praise  him.  The  man  who  is  not  a  partisan  is  with 
out  convictions,  or  if  he  has  convictions  he  is  false  to  them. 
That  he  was  a  bigot  I  deny.  He  was  simply  and  sublimely  \/ 
true.  He  knew  not  how  to  prevaricate  or  apostatize  or  "  keep 
the  word  of  promise  to  our  ear,  and  break  it  to  our  hope."  In 
disaster  and  exigency,  amid  defection  and  demoralization,  he 
became  the  front  because  he  was  always  in  the  advance,  and, 
wherever  others  might  go,  he  never  fell  back.  Xobody  and 
nothing  dismayed  him.  He  was  like  a  living  rock  on  the  eter 
nal  battle  line  between  right  and  wrong.  There  he  stood 
"  fixed  like  a  tower"  for  support  in  onset,  for  shelter  and  for 
rally  in  repulse  and  despair. 

He  was  not  more  ultra  than  others,  but  he  was  more  stead 
fast  and  courageously  true  to  his  cause.  He  only  went  with 
them  to  the  full  length  of  their  common  belief  and  profes 
sions — but  there  he  staid.  His  action  was  not  that  of  mercury 
in  long-tubed  thermometers,  rising  and  falling  with  the  weather 
of  expediency,  but  he  found  the  line  where  he  belonged  and  he 
fought  it  out  there — not  only  if  it  took  all  summer,  but  all  win 
ter  and  all  time. 

And  so  it  was  that  he  expired  in  the  hour  of  his  greatest 


GO 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CAMERON  ON  THE 


usefulness,  while  he  was  once  more  rallying  the  host,  and  the 
most  vital  political  truths,  as  he  understood  them,  and  as  the 
fathers  of  the  Eepublic  understood  them,  were  echoing  from 
his  lips  on  the  midnight  air  of  the  Queen  City  by  the  lakes. 
And  still 

Their  echoes  roll  from  soul  to  soul 
And  grow  forever  and  forever. 

His  career  is  a  rare  illustration  of  the  excellence  of  our  insti 
tutions.  It  is  full  of  hope  to  every  struggling,  brave-hearted 
youth  who  feels  conscious  of  noble  purpose  and  inherent  power. 

ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  was  a  patriot,  a  statesman,  and  an 
honest  man.  He  was  of  God's  noblest  work.  In  such  case 

'Tis  not  so  difficult  to  die. 


Address  of  Mr.  CAMERON,  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  I  desire  to  add  my  tribute  to  one  who  for  a 
much  longer  time  than  the  majority  of  Senators  was  a  member 
of  this  body.  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  was  four  times  chosen 
by  his  adopted  State  to  represent  her  in  the  Senate.  Few  have 
been  honored  so  frequently.  This  alone  would  be  sufficient  to 
say  of  him  in  pronouncing  his  eulogy,  for  no  man  need  desire 
higher  praise  than  to  have  said  of  him  that  he  spent  one- third 
of  his  entire  life  in  faithful  public  service.  That  such  service 
was  rendered  by  Mr.  CHANDLER  we  all  know.  That  he  was 
appreciated  by  his  people,  none  can  deny  who  witnessed  the 
evidences  of  sadness  that  were  portrayed  upon  the  counte 
nances  of  thousands  of  his  constituents  as  the  last  sad  rites 
were  being  paid  to  his  memory.  In  all  that  has  been  said  here 
of  his  patriotism,  nothing  has  been  uttered  that  ought  not  to 
have  been,  for  nothing  more  can  be  said  of  him  than  he  de- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.   (II 


served.    Michigan  has  lost  a  brave,  faithful,  honest  representa 
tive,  and  her  people  may  well  mourn. 

I  did  not  expect  to  do  so,  nor  can  I  add  one  word  to  that 
which  has  been  spoken  that  would  be  worthy  of  him.  I  merely 
desired  to  place  my  words,  crude  and  simple  as  they  are,  along 
side  of  those  more  worthy  and  appropriate  addresses  which 
have  been  placed  upon  the  records  of  the  Senate,  in  memory 
of  one  with  whom  I  served  both  in  the  Cabinet  and  in  the  Sen 
ate,  and  who,  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  both  public  and  pri 
vate,  was  my  friend. 


Address  of  Mr.  BALDWIN,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  It  is  with  feelings  of  painful  sensibility 
that  I  add  my  tribute  to  what  has  already  been  uttered,  and 
these  are  deeply  intensified  when  I  recall  the  unbroken  friend 
ship  which  for  more  than  forty  years  existed  between  the  late 
Senator  CHANDLER  and  myself. 

Born  and  reared  amid  the  hills  of  a  New  England  State  that 
has  given  to  the  country  many  distinguished  statesmen,  his 
character  largely  partook  of  the  spot  of  his  nativity. 

His  educational  advantages  were  confined  to  the  studies  of 
the  common  school  and  the  country  academy  of  those  days. 
The  wise  and  efficient  use  he  made  of  them  is  abundantly 
demonstrated  in  the  honorable  record  of  his  life. 

While  yet  a  youth,  stimulated  by  a  laudable  ambition,  he 
sought  a  wider,  a  more  promising  sphere  than  the  circumscribed 
boundaries  of  his  home  afforded.  The  expanding  West,  with 
its  great  possibilities,  beckoned  him  to  its  inviting  fields.  Bid 
ding  adieu  to  the  home  of  his  childhood,  he  removed  to  Detroit, 
then  but  little  more  than  a  military  post  on  the  frontier  of  civ 
ilized  life.  Before  attaining  his  majority  he  established  a  mer- 


62 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  BALDWIN  ON  THE 


cantile  business,  carrying  into  daily  life  those  habits  of  industry 
and  frugality  which  he  had  been  taught  and  which  were  illus 
trated  in  all  his  subsequent  career. 

He  had  started  in  life  with  the  unwavering  determination  to 
make  no  compromise  of  principle.  In  this  he  was  as  firm  as 
the  granite  hills  of  his  native  State.  Success  was  his  motto ; 
but  it  must  be  attained  through  industry  and  integrity  alone. 
From  this  purpose  he  never  swerved,  and  during  a  business 
life  of  many  years,  marked  by  the  vicissitudes  which  are  insep 
arable  from  commercial  pursuits,  his  reputation  was  spotless. 

Under  the  principles  which  Mr.  CHANDLER  brought  to  his 
daily  avocations  he  reaped  his  reward,  not  alone  in  abundant 
wealth,  but  in  the  well-earned  confidence  which  the  people  of 
Michigan  placed  in  his  high  capability  and  character. 

Coupled  with  an  earnest  devotion  to  the  demands  of  a  busi 
ness  steadily  enlarging,  he  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  political 
and  other  questions  of  the  day.  From  his  boyhood  he  had  dis 
played  that  quickness  of  comprehension  and  sterling  common 
sense,  that  intuitive  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  which  were 
of  so  great  service  to  him  in  those  after  years  when,  called  from 
the  pursuits  of  a  mercantile  life,  he  was  invested  with  duties 
and  responsibilities  grave  and  national  in  their  character. 

At  an  early  day,  and  at  a  time  .when  the  political  party  with 
which  he  was  identified  was  in  a  minority,  he  had  been  chosen 
mayor  of  Detroit.  In  this  his  first  official  position  he  dis 
played  executive  abilities  and  those  qualifications  needful  in 
the  exalted  stations  he  afterward  so  ably  filled. 

Nominated  in  1852  as  the  candidate  of  the  whig  party  for 
governor,  he  made  his  first  appearance  as  a  political  speaker  in 
a  vigorous  canvass  of  the  State,  but  failed  of  an  election. 

An  anti-slavery  whig  from  principle,  opposed  to  oppression 
in  every  form,  he  took  a  prominent  and  efficient  part  in  the 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.       63 

organization  of  the  republican  party  in  1854,  devoting  the  best 
energies  of  his  after  life  in  promoting  its  success. 

In  1857  he  was  chosen  by  the  Legislature  to  represent  Mich 
igan  in  this  body.  His  immediate  predecessor  was  that  distin 
guished  Senator,  Cabinet  minister,  diplomat,  and  scholar,  Gen 
eral  Lewis  Cass.  Called  as  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  from  an  active 
commercial  life  without  previous  training,  to  take  the  place  of 
this  eminent  man,  whose  long  life  had  been  spent  in  the  public 
service,  there  were  those  Vho  doubted  his  success,  but  those 
doubts  were  speedily  dispelled.  In  the  Senate  Chamber,  as 
in  every  station  he  was  called  upon  to  fill,  he  never  failed 
to  prove  himself  equal  to  the  duties  which  devolved  upon 
him. 

It  is  not  needful  for  me  to  speak  particularly  of  his  career  in 
the  Senate,  of  the  conspicuous  position  he  occupied,  and  the 
inlluence  he  exerted  in  this  body.  That  has  already  been  done 
by  his  associates  who  so  well  knew  and  appreciated  the  excel 
lence  of  his  judgment  and  the  earnestness  with  which  his  duties 
were  discharged.  But  I  may  say  that  the  eighteen  years  of 
his  continuous  service  was  the  most  eventful  period  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  country.  The  stability  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
very  existence  of  the  Government  were  put  to  their  severest 
test.  An  irrepressible  conflict  existed  in  the  national  Legisla 
ture  and  throughout  the  land ;  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union 
was  threatened.  During  the  dark  years  of  civil  war  which  fol 
lowed,  the  unceasing  earnestness  with  which  all  his  powers 
were  devoted  to  sustain  the  administration  in  its  efforts  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Eepublic  are  too  well  known,  too  deeplj 
engraved  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  to  need  more  than  a  pass 
ing  notice.  In  all  these  hours  of  gloom  and  sorrow,  in  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  victory  and  defeat,  in  all  the  demands  that  were 
made  on  the  blood,  the  treasure,  and  the  patriotism  of  the  peo- 


64  ADDEESS   OF   MR.   BALDWIN   ON   THE 

pie,  he  never  faltered  in  his  convictions  of  duty,  or  of  the  tri 
umph  of  the  flag,  and  the  full  restoration  of  the  power  and 
unity  of  the  Government. 

There  is  one  thing  in  the  senatorial  career  of  Mr.  CHANDLER 
to  which  I  may  refer.  While  he  was  identified  with  all  the 
leading  measures  of  Congress,  he  was  untiring  in  his  devotion 
to  the  interests  of  Michigan  and  the  great  Northwest.  His 
promptness  in  aiding  the  citizens  of  his  State  without  distinc 
tion  of  creed  or  party  was  proverbial.  His  zeal  and  fidelity  in 
this  particular  were  as  broad  as  the  Commonwealth  that  had 
so  gladly  honored  him.  It  was  this  which  added  so  largely  to 
his  popularity  at  home ;  and  his  warmest  friends  were  found 
alike  in  all  parties. 

Called  by  President  Grant  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Inte 
rior,  he  assumed  the  duties  of  this  perplexing  bureau,  display 
ing  a  tact,  an  energy,  and  an  executive  ability  that  surprised 
even  those  who  knew  him  best.  With  clear  head  and  stout 
heart,  prevailing  evils  were  stamped  out  with  unfaltering  cour 
age.  With  an  unswerving  purpose  he  brought  order  out  of 
confusion,  infusing  new  life  into  the  various  branches  of  the 
Department,  and  clearly  demonstrated  that  the  public  service 
can  be  successfully  accomplished  by  bringing  to  its  aid  unflinch 
ing  integrity  and  vigorous  common  sense. 

At  the  close  of  the  administration  of  President  Grant,  Mr. 
CHANDLER  returned  to  his  home  and  to  private  life.  Popular 
fallacies  upon  the  subject  of  the  currency  had  been  widely  dis 
seminated;  Michigan  was  not  exempt  from  the  contagion. 
These  were  to  be  met  with  argument  and  the  delusions  dis 
pelled.  It  was  then  that  he  relinquished  his  plans  for  recrea 
tion  and  an  anticipated  foreign  trip,  and  again  buckling  on  his 
armor  with  his  accustomed  energy,  he  led  the  van  in  a  decisive 
and  victorious  battle  for  honest  money. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIAH1A1I   CHANDLER.        05 

There  are  but  few  leaders  of  men;  Mr.  CHANDLER  was 
clearly  one  of  the  few.  For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
he  had  been  a  faithful  servant  of  the  people.  In  1878  he  was 
again  returned  to  the  Senate,  and  he  brought  with  him  the 
same  unceasing  devotion  to  hid  State  and  his  country  that  had 
ever  characterized  his  public  life.  His  voice  again  heard  in 
the  Senate  Chamber  had  no  uncertain  sound,  and  was  echoed 
to  the  ends  of  the  laud. 

During  the  autumnal  months  of  the  year  which  has  just 
closed,  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  almost  constantly  occupied  in  ad 
dressing  large  assemblies  of  the  people,  in  various  sections  of 
the  country,  on  the  political  topics  of  the  day.  In  arousing 

4 

and  retaining  the  interest  of  an  audience,  few  men  possess  his 
magnetic  power.  Jn  these  his  later  efforts  he  seemed  to  dis 
play  new  energy  and  power,  achieving  a  remarkable  reputation 

as  a  most  effective  public  speaker,     llis  fame  and  his  popu 

v 
larity  were  at  their  zenith.     Had  his  life  been  spared,  it  is  more 

than  probable  that  the  representatives  from  the  State  he  had 
so  long  and  so  faithfully  served  would,  with  one  voice,  have 
presented  his  name  as  their  first  choice  for  the  most  exalted 
position  in  the  gift  of  the  people. 

On  the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  October  he  addressed  the 
people  of  Chicago.  And  never  had  he  spoken  more  acceptably. 
Making  his  arrangements  to  return  to  his  home  the  next  day, 
he  retired  to  his  room,  and,  after  pleasant  converse  with  friends, 
at  the  midnight  hour  he  lay  down  to  rest.  It  was  that  peace 
ful  rest  which  shall  remain  unbroken  until  the  archangel's 
trump  shall  be  heard  at  the  great  day. 

I  need  not  speak  particularly  of  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  domestic 
life,  or  of  his  warm  attachment  to  those  who  made  up  his  home 
circle.  We  have  to  speak  of  him  as  a  friend,  a  citizen,  a  public 
man.  Strong  in  his  convictions,  stalwart  in  his  opinions,  and 


9  c 


66  ADDRESS   OF   MB.   BALDWIN. 

fearless  in  their  avowal,  there  was  no  bitterness  in  his  nature : 
all  his  tendencies  were  to  the  genial  side  of  life. 

Friend  of  my  youth,  companion  of  my  manhood  and  of  my 
maturer  years,  farewell !  Strong  in  the  defense  of  right,  true 
in  friendship,  and  uu  sullied  in  integrity,  may  we  who  yet  lin 
ger  be  imitators  of  those  traits  which  ennobled  your  life  and 
have  engraved  your  name  upon  the  imperishable  pages  of  your 
country's  history. 

Mr.  President,  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  pending  reso 
lutions. 

The  VIOE-PEESIDENT.  The  question  is  on  agreeing  to 
the  resolutions. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to  unanimously ;  and  (at  two 
o'clock  and  forty-six  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


ADDRESSES 


ON  THB 


DEATH  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER, 


A  SENATOR  FROM  MICHIGAN. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 
WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY  28,  I860. 


A  message  from  the  Senate,  by  Mr.  BuRon,  its  Secretary, 
communicated  the  resolutions  of  that  body  upon  the  announce 
ment  of  the  death  of  Hon.  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  late  a  Sen 
ator  of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  Michigan ;  which 
were  read,  as  follows : 

IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

January  28,  1880. 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  received  with  profound  sorrow  the  announce 
ment  of  the  death  of  ZACIIARIAH  CHANDLER,  late  a  Senator  of  the  United 
States  from  the  State  of  Michigan,  and  for  nearly  nineteen  years  a  member 
of  this  body. 

Resolved,  That,  to  express  some  estimate  held  of  his  eminent  services  in  a 
long  public  career,  rendered  conspicuous  by  fearless,  patriotic  devotion,  the 
business  of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended,  that  the  associates  of  the  departed 
Senator  may  pay  fitting  tribute  to  his  public  and  private  virtues. 

Resolved,  That  the  loss  of  the  country,  sustained  in  the  death  of  Mr.  CHAN 
DLER,  was  manifest  by  expressions  of  public  sorrow  through  the  land. 

Rtsolfcd,  That,  as  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  dead  Senator, 
the  members  of  the  Senate  will  wear  crape  upon  the  left  arm  for  thirty  days. 

67 


68  ADDEESS   OF  MR.   NEWBERRY    ON   THE 


Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  resolutions 
to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Resolved,  That,  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
deceased,  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

Mr.  CONGER.     I  offer  the  resolutions  which  I  send  to  the 
desk. 
The  Clerk  read  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  has  received  with  profound 
sorrow  the  announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  ZACIIARIAH  CHANDLER, 
late  a  United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  Michigan. 

Resolved,  That  business  be  now  suspended  to  allow  fitting  tributes  to  be 
paid  to  his  public  and  private  virtues  ;  and  that,  as  a  further  mark  of  re-  • 
spect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  the  House  at  the  close  of  such  remarks 
shall  adjourn. 


Address  of  Mr.  NEWBERRY,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  For  over  twenty  years  the  name  of  ZACH- 
ARIAH  CHANDLER  has  been  a  household  word  in  the  State  of 
Michigan.  His  business,  social,  private,  public,  and  political 
life  belongs  solely  to  and  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  that  State. 
He  was  born  December  10,  1813,  in  New  Hampshire,  in  sight 
of  the  granite  hills  of  New  England  and  came  to  Michigan  in 
1833,  before  he  became  of  age.  Soon  after  his  arrival  in  Mich 
igan  he  engaged  in  mercantile  business,  and  laid  the  founda 
tion  of  his  great  fortune,  showing  the  same  careful,  untiring 
energy,  foresight  and  straightforward  integrity  and  honesty 
that  followed  him  through  life.  While  thus  engaged  in  active 
business,  with  quiet,  persistent  and  unflagging  assiduity,  he 
acquired  that  knowledge  of  men  and  books  that  became  in  his 
after  life  a  surprise  even  to  his  best  friends.  Constantly  em 
ployed  by  day  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade  and  commerce,  clear 
headed  and  keen,  he  attended  to  his  constantly  increasing 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLER.        GO 


business.  Busy  hours  over,  the  book  and  the  library  gave 
him  their  richest  treasures. 

Blessed  with  a  home  and  fireside  where  one  of  the  best  and 
noblest  of  women  was  ever  ready  to  welcome  him  and  brighten 
his  life,  whose  domestic  charm  of  manner  was  only  surpassed 
by  the  winning  grace  always  shown  in  receiving  the  welcome 
friends  of  her  husband,  his  life  in  early  manhood  was  passed 
without  a  thought,  as  I  believe,  of  a  public  career. 

My  own  first  and  earliest  recollections  of  him  were  when,  as 
a  boy,  I  was  placed  in  his  class  in  the  Sabbath  school  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  church  of  the  city  of  Detroit.  He  was  then 
one  of  the  active  young  men  of  that  church,  earnestly  engaged 
in  all  church-work. 

He  took  no  active  part  in  political  life  until  1851,  when  he 
was  elected  mayor  of  Detroit.  In  1857  he  was  elected  Senator 
in  place  of  General  Lewis  Cass,  re-elected  in  1863,  and  again 
in  1869.  He  was  Senator  continuously  from  1857  to  1875, 
eighteen  years.  He  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
in  October,  1875,  and  again  elected  to  the  Senate  in  1879. 
During  his  senatorial  terms  occurred  some  of  the  most  memo 
rable  events  in  the  history  of  this  nation. 

Looking  back  now,  it  is  easy  to  see  how,  step  by  step,  the 
United  States  was  gradually  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
most  tremendous  struggle  of  ancient  or  modern  times,  to  that 
crime  of  crimes,  a  civil  war.  In  all  the  events  that  go  to 
make  up  the  history  of  those  years,  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  one 
of  the  living,  energetic  actors. 

The  gradual  extension  of  slave  territory  in  the  United  States 
was  arousing  the  attention,  the  crimes  perpetrated  under  the 
code  of  slavery  were  raising  to  the  pitch  of  horror  the  religious 
and  moral  sentiment,  not  only  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  but  of  the  world.  The  Kansas  civil  war  was  swelling 


70 


ADDRESS   OF  MR.  NEWBERRY   ON  THE 


and  raising  its  portentous  head  on  the  western  frontier.  Old 
John  Brown  and  his  hardy  sharpshooters  in  Kansas  were 
educating  themselves  and  the  nation  to  a  hatred  of  slavery 
and  the  extension  of  slave  territory.  Free  speech,  free  terri 
tory,  and  free  men  was  being  raised  as  the  war-cry  of  a  great 
political  uprising.  After  events  showed  that  Mr.  CHANDLER 
had  given  these  matters  close  attention. 

There  was  filibustering  in  Cuba  and  in  Nicaragua  by  the 
South  in  hopes  of  making  slave  States  to  offset  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  free  States  of  the  Northwest.  Threats  of  resist 
ance  and  secession  were  openly  made  by  the  South.  The 
crack  of  the  slave- whip  was  heard  even  in  Congress  over  the 
heads  of  independent  men  from  the  North.  The  doctrine  that 
any  citizen  with  his  slaves  had  a  right  to  enter  upon  any  ter 
ritory  of  the  United  States  and  retain  his  slaves,  called  squat 
ter  sovereignty,  was  convulsing  the  land.  The  atrocious 
Lecompton  act  was  passed.  The  fugitive-slave  law,  with  all 
its  attendant  horrors,  was  being  enforced,  and  Northern  States 
passed  acts  to  protect  the  liberty  of  their  colored  citizens. 

Like  a  flash  of  lightning  from  a  clear  sky  came  the  attack  of 
John  Brown  and  his  army  of  ten  or  fifteen  men  on  Harper's 
Ferry,  in  Virginia ;  and  the  whole  South  was  thrown  into  a 
paroxysm  of  terror  through  fear  of  a  servile  war. 

Upon  all  these  subjects  Mr.  CHANDLER  had  given  his  views 
to  the  nation  in  the  Senate. 

The  democratic  convention  at  Charleston  followed  in  May, 
1860.  The  war  of  factions — the  South  against  the  North— was 
the  fatal  wedge  that  then  and  there  disrupted  the  old  demo 
cratic  party.  Substantially  the  opening  gun  of  the  rebellion 
was  fired  by  that  convention,  and  its  echoes  have  never  ceased 
to  reverberate  to  this  day  in  the  democratic  party.  From  that 
fatal  day  in  Charleston  events  rapidly  hastened  to  war,  actual 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OP  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.       71 

war.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected  President,  and  traitorous 
hands  were  busy,  traitorous  hearts  were  plotting,  to  betray, 
break  down,  and  destroy  this  Government. 

A  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  utterly  uprooted  the  credit  of 
the  Government  and  substantially  made  it  a  bankrupt.  A  Sec 
retary  of  War  sold  its  cannon  and  guns  and  shipped  them  to 
southern  arsenals,  and  sent  its  effective  Army  to  out-of-the- 
way  places  on  the  distant  frontier.  A  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
sold  our  ships  and  naval  stores  and  ammunition,  sent  loyal 
officers  to  sea  in  rotten,  unseaworthy  hulks,  and  scattered  the 
serviceable  ships  and  vessels  to  our  most  distant  stations.  An 
Attorney-General  advised  the  President  that  he  could  not  use 
force  against  a  State.  A  Chief  Justice  refused  to  issue  war 
rants  to  arrest  traitors.  Every  Department  was  demoralized 
or  in  traitorous  hands. 

Lincoln  was  inaugurated,  and  then  came  the  first  gun  of 
actual  war  at  Sumter. 

Through  all  these  stormy  scenes  CHANDLER  was  ever  and 
always  watchful,  ready,  alert,  brave,  and  outspoken. 

In  the  debates  and  stormy  scenes  of  the  Senate  he  took  his 
full  share  both  of  responsibility  and  debate.  Long  before  his 
"blood-letting  letter"  he  had  warned  the  southern  Senators 
that  their  actions  meant,  for  them,  revolution  or  a  halter.  He 
denounced  the  Lecompton  act,  the  fugitive-slave  bill,  and  the 
prosecutions  under  it.  His  painting  of  the  Kansas  horrors, 
burnings,  whippings,  and  tortures  of  men  and  women  who 
dared  advocate  free  speech  and  free  Territories  for  freemen, 
will  stand  with  the  tremendous  philippics  of  the  old  Greek 
and  Roman  orators  and  statesmen.  But  time  will  fail  me  to 
enumerate  all  his  labors. 

During  the  civil  war  and  the  years  of  reconstruction  follow 
ing,  his  great  business  experience,  his  grand  executive  ability, 


72  ADDRESS  OF  MB.   NEWBERRY   ON   THE 

his  almost  prophetic  foresight,  his  extraordinary  sagacity  and 
wisdom  in  the  conduct  of  affairs  brought  him  to  the  front. 

His  judgment  in  regard  to  one  of  the  noted  generals  in  com 
mand  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  showed  his  wonderful 
sagacity  and  decision  of  character,  and  the  strong  reliance  he 
had  upon  the  great  under-curreuts  of  popular  opinion  and 
wisdom  to  justify  his  action.  He  denounced  this  general,  and 
in  the  most  positive  manner  charged  him  with  failure  as  a  mili 
tary  commander  and  as  utterly  incompetent  to  conduct  suc 
cessfully  a  great  campaign.  This  charge,  made  and  substan 
tially  proved  in  the  Senate  and  before  the  country,  resulted  in 
a  change  of  commanders  of  the  Union  Army,  and,  as  a  further 
result,  final  victory.  It  was  sought  subsequently  to  reverse 
this  decision  by  an  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  country  in  a 
presidential  campaign,  but  the  result  showed  that  CHANDLER 
was  right,  and  his  action,  as  proper  and  patriotic,  was  triumph 
antly  vindicated  by  the  nation,  and  the  removed  general  be 
came  the  defeated  presidential  candidate. 

With  the  close  of  the  war  came  another  class  of  legislation, 
and  here,  as  everywhere  else,  CHANDLER'S  clear-headed  busi 
ness  experience  and  ready  facility  of  grasping  details  and 
/  grouping  principles  and  reaching  successfully  the  end  came 

into  play.  There  were  reconstruction  acts  and  financial  acts 
of  stupendous  magnitude  to  be  considered,  revenues  in  un 
heard-of  amounts  to  be  collected,  taxation  to  be  adjusted,  and 
amounts  to  be  raised  that  staggered  the  most  sanguine; 
a  nation  of  freed  men  to  be  raised  to  the  standard  of  citi 
zens,  a  race  of  slaves  to  be  educated  to  understand  the 
rights  and  duties  and  obligations  of  freemen;  banking  and 
loan  acts,  legal-tender  and  currency  acts;  treaties  to  be  re 
newed  ;  new  relations  with  foreign  nations  to  be  entered  into, 
old  relations  to  be  strengthened ;  international  and  constitu- 


,  r 

,/         /:'. 

LIFE   AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAII  CHANDLER.       tfV 


^    j 

tional  questions,  new  and  old,  arising  out  of  a  war  unheard'' oft  . 

'/ 


in  its  magnitude  and  astounding  as  to  its  results,  to  be  settled;  ' 


wounded  soldiers  to  be  eared  for;  an  army  to  be  disbanded; 
the  Southern  States  to  be  rehabilitated;  amendments  of  the 
Constitution  to  be  adjusted  to  the  changed  condition  of  the 
people  ;  in  a  word,  the  autonomy  of  the  nation  was  to  be  re 
established.  All  these  and  a  thousand  other  subjects  had  to 
be  and  were  considered  by  him  apparently  with  equal  ease, 
and  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate  will  show  his  participation 
from  day  to  day  in  them  all. 

The  great  men  whose  names  are  linked  with  the  history  of 
the  civil  war  and  the  rehabilitation  of  the  nation  are  fast  pass 
ing  away.  Lincoln,  Seward,  Chase,  Stanton,  Greeley,  Wilson, 
Simmer,  Morton,  and  now  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  have  van 
ished  from  the  scenes,  and  in  all  the  records  of  history  and 
the  memories  of  those  still  remaining  must  rest  their  glorious 
fame. 

From  Senator  CHANDLER'S  first  entrance  into  public  life 
he  was  always  the  vigorous,  rapid,  sledge-hammer  dealer  of 
telling  blows  —  no  fears  or  quaking  as  to  results.  When  the 

blow  was  delivered  it  was  straight  from  the  shoulder,  vigorous 

• 
and  effective,  delivered  because  he  believed  it  necessary,  and 

without  thinking  of  the  tremendous  effect  of  the  stroke. 

To  the  looker-on  often  the  effect  was  not  immediately  ap 
parent  ;  it  did  not  seem  much  of  a  blow  ;  but  the  next  day, 
the  next  week,  the  next  month  the  effect  would  be  manifest. 
Men  would  be  talking  of  his  power  ;  and  a  little  speech  of  ten 
minutes  would  be  printed  in  every  newspaper,  talked  of  on 
every  corner,  read  at  every  fireside,  in  the  city,  in  the  country, 
on  the  mountain,  in  the  valley,  on  the  plain,  in  the  palace, 
down  among  the  miners,  up  among  the  woodmen,  in  the  draw 
ing-room  of  the  swift-rolling  express  train,  in  the  forecastle  of 


10  c 


74  ADDRESS  OF  MR.  NEWBERRY   ON  THE 

the  fast-speeding  ocean  steamer,  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  pew,  on 
the  rostrum,  on  the  stage,  rousing  the  laggard,  encouraging 
the  timid,  emboldening  the  brave,  nerving  the  patriotic,  strik 
ing  terror  to  the  traitor. 

One  element  of  his  power  was  in  his  use  of  clear  Anglo- 
Saxon  words,  meaning  exactly  what  he  said  and  saying  exactly 
what  he  meant,  and  doing  it  so  clearly  that  each  hearer  knew 
he  was  but  crystallizing  into  thought  and  expression  the  ex 
act  floating  idea  in  his  own  mind  in  the  words  that  ought  to 
be  used. 

He  had  a  masterly  way  of  using  plain  words  for  plain  peo 
ple,  with  plain  meaning.  He  used  no  tricks  of  rhetoric,  no 
flowers  of  speech,  no  studied  expression,  no  graceful  gesture. 
They  would  have  been  utterly  out  of  place  with  him.  But  his 
facts  would  be  true  and  telling — his  speech  rough-hewed  but 
strong,  his  gestures  ungainly  but  powerful.  He  was  listened 
to  by  his  friends  because  of  their  love  ;  listened  to  by  his  ene 
mies  because  his  power  compelled  their  attention.  Warm, 
positive,  and  magnetic  to  his  friends,  he  was  stern,  unyielding, 
aggressive  in  the  presence  of  his  enemies ;  always,  however, 
battling  for  the  right  as  he  believed  it.  Firm  and  steadfast 
in  his  convictions,  with  him  the  contest  must  go  on  until  he 
was  victorious. 

As  he  was  always  ready  to  give  blows,  so  he  could  receive 
them. 

The  story  is  told  of  him,  that  amid  the  exciting  scenes  pre 
ceding  the  withdrawal  of  senatorial  traitors  in  1861,  when  some 
of  them,  goaded  to  madness  by  his  merciless  accusation  of 
traitors,  turned,  and  with  fiery  southern  eloquence  hurled  sting 
ing  epithets  and  bloody  threats  and  words  of  frenzied  fury  at 
him,  he  sat  with  a  smile  of  scorn  and  derision,  looking  them 
steadily  in  the  face,  as  though  he  heard  them  not  but  pitied 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       75 


their  agonized  emotions.  Afterward,  on  being  asked  why  he 
did  not  reply,  he  said,  "Let  ine  tell  you  a  story."  Holding  his 
hands  in  front  of  him  with  his  two  thumbs  together,  he  said, 
"Do  you  see,  one  of  my  thumbs  is  shorter  than  the  other, 
twisted  and  broken.  Well,  once  driving  a  yoke  of  oxen  in  my 
younger  days,  I  got  very  mad  at  one  of  them,  and  raved  and 
tore  around  considerably,  and  finally  as  the  ox  did  not  seem 
to  care  much  about  it,  in  my  rage  I  struck  him  as  hard  as  pos 
sible  with  my  fist,  thinking  to  break  a  rib  at  least.  The  sturdy 
old  ox  shifted  his  cud  from  one  side  to  the  other,  looked  around 
at  me  very  quietly,  whisked  his  tail  gently,  as  though  a  fly  was 
tickling  him — while  I  was  just  howling  with  a  broken  thumb. 
So,"  the  Senator  concluded,  "  it  often  happens  that  the  man 
who  supposes  he  is  giving  some  one  else  a  stunning  blow  finds 
he  has  only  broken  his  own  thumb." 

When  Mr.  CHANDLER  first  appeared  in  the  national  poli 
tical  arena  in  1856  he  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for 
Senator.  General  Cass,  whose  term  was  about  to  expire, 
looked  at  the  audacious  young  man  with  undisguised  disdain, 
and  was  not  slow  to  express  his  contempt  for  the  "  young  man 
who,"  he  said,  "  might  know  how  to  measure  calico  and  tape, 
sell  needles  and  thread,  buj  was  not  fit  to  take  his  place  in  the 
council  of  the  nation,"  and  added,  "we  will  remit  him  to  his 
counter."  One  can  imagine  the  expression  of  countenance 
with  which,  in  language  more  strong  than  polite,  young  CHAN 
DLER  replied,  "General  Cass  will  find  that  he  spelled  his  own 
name  without  a  C  when  he  made  that  remark."  From  that 
moment  there  was,  on  the  part  of  the  coming  Senator,  con 
stant,  steady,  hard  work  to  one  end,  and  when  the  Legisla 
ture  assembled  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  elected  and  General  Cass 
relegated  to  private  life. 

In  character  and  in  person  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  like  a  granite 


76  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   NEWBERRY   ON   THE 

block  struck  from  the  rugged  mountains  of  his  native  State ; 
rough-hewn,  with  jagged  corners  here  and  there,  but  solid, 
strong.  His  power  of  resistance  to  wrong  or  injustice,  when 
ever  or  whence  it  might  come,  his  capability  of  sus'aining  any 
load,  his  power  to  carry  and  readiness  to  assume  any  responsi 
bility  made  necessary  by  his  position,  was  that  of  the  granite 
rock  always.  His  public  life  contains  no  instance  of  failure. 
Friends  and  patriots  could  unhesitatingly  rely  upon  his  help, 
assistance,  and  counsels  to  sustain  the  nation  and  its  defend 
ers.  Enemies  and  traitors  to  his  last  day  could  rest  assured 
that  he  was  watchful  and  ready  to  interfere  between  them  and 
injury  or  insult  to  the  nation  or  the  soldiers  of  the  Union.  To 
him  traitors  were  a  concrete,  ever-present  reality,  not  an  ab 
stract,  far-away  entity.  The  definition  of  treason  in  the  Con 
stitution  of  his  country  had  a  personal,  pointed  application  to 
individuals.  Its  clear-cut  definition,  "Treason  against  the 
United  States  shall  consist  only  in  levying  war  against  them 
or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and  comfort," 
his  mind  instantly  applied  personally,  and  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  who  made  war  against  his  own  country  was  a 
traitor,  not  an  "erring  brother,"  or  one  who  had  only  been  en 
gaged  in  "  some  unpleasantness."  An  unrepentant  rebel  was 
a  traitor  ever  and  always. 

Yet,  no  one  was  more  ready  than  he  to  receive  heartily  any 
one  desirous  of  returning  to  his  allegiance  to  his  flag  and  his 
country. 

The  great  leader  of  the  rebellion,  who,  with  the  oath  of  alle 
giance  almost  warm  upon  his  lips,  went  out  from  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  where  he  had  given  his  pledge  of  loyalty 
to  the  Government,  ay,  his  own  Government,  freely  and  volun 
tarily,  with  hand  upraised  to  heaven,  and  calling  God  to  wit 
ness  his  truth,  to  levy  war  against  the  United  States,  which 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAII    CHANDLER.         77 

act  the  Constitution  had  declared  treason,  was  to  him  a  trai 
tor,  whose  name  should  never  be  enrolled  on  the  roll  of 
honor — the  pension- roll  of  the  patriotic,  loyal,  maimed,  and 
wounded  soldiers  of  the  Union  Army.  CHANDLER'S  last 
speech  in  the  Senate  went  to  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen, 
and  will  live  with  those  of  the  distinguished  orators  and  patriots 
of  the  early  days  of  the  Republic. 

That  there  was  one  man,  at  least,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  who  dared  to  lift  an  indignant  voice  for  patriots  and 
patriotism,  and  against  traitors  and  treason,  gladdened  the 
hearts  and  strengthened  the  hands  of  millions  of  citizens.  The 
distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  between  loyal  citizens 
and  rebels,  between  patriots  and  traitors,  seemed  to  be  fast 
dying  out,  till  a  few  burning  words,  in  a  midnight  session, 
forced  out  of  his  inmost  heart  by  insulting  wrong,  went  like  a 
zigzag  stroke  of  lightning  through  the  wordy  sophisms,  and 
revealed  to  an  indignant  people  the  insult  that  was  being  at 
tempted  to  laud,  country,  flag,  and  all  the  patriotic  impulses 
of  the  nation. 

It  is  said  that  the  eagle,  when  the  storm  arises,  the  light 
nings  flash,  and  thunders  roll,  and  heavy  winds  and  black  por 
tentous  clouds  are  rushing  through  the  heavens,  spreads  his 
broad  wings  and  soars  above  the  storm.  Thus  it  was  with  our 
dead  friend.  When  peril  threatened  the  country,  when  disas 
ter  spread  ruin  and  desolation,  when  men's  hearts  failed  from 
fear,  CHANDLER  rose  above  the  storm,  scanned  the  ruin,  the 
disaster,  the  peril  and  dismay,  grasped  the  situation,  mastered 
it  in  all  its  details,  and  calmly  and  quietly  led  the  way  to  safety. 

lie  was  a  born  commander  and  leader  of  men — a  power  that 
would  and  could  and  did  overcome  all  obstacles.  In  the  calm 
or  in  the  storm,  in  the  whirlwind  or  in  the  tempest,  always  and 
ever  self-poised,  cool,  daring,  positive,  ready  for  action.  lie 


78  ADDRESS  OP  MR.   NEWBERRY  ON  THE 

was  not  the  light-house  to  show  others  the  way ;  he  was  the  dar 
ing  navigator  who,  when  the  light  went  out  and  rocks  on  either 
hand,  could  seize  the  helm  and  convey  the  ship  safely  into  port. 

Earely  has  this  country  been  so  thoroughly  shocked  as  it 
was  on  the  morning  of  November  1,  1879,  when  the  lightning 
flashed  through  the  land — 

Senator  CHANDLER  was  found  dead  in  his  bed  this  morning. 
The  air  had  been  full  of  his  utterances;  the  papers  loaded 
with  the  closing  speeches  of  this  honest-hearted,  earnest- 
minded  old  man  in  the  campaign  then  ending.  His  last 
speech  but  one  was  made,  and  the  flash,  "  he  is  dead,"  came 
with  the  stunning  effect  of  a  blow. 

Never  so  well  known,  never  so  earnest,  never  so  admired 
and  loved  and  appreciated  by  his  friends ;  never  so  powerful 
against,  hated,  and  feared  by  his  enemies ;  but  with  harness  on, 
his  steady,  manly  voice  ringing  in  the  ears  of  his  countrymen, 
he  went  down  as  the  warrior  in  the  shock  of  battle;  ay,  and  at 
the  very  moment  of  anticipated  victory,  although  the  shout  of 
actual  victory  he  was  never  again  to  hear  in  this  world. 

Farewell  to  thee !  illustrious  statesman,  with  a  lion's  heart ! 
Farewell  to  thee!  uncompromising  patriot,  with  a  true  soul! 
Farewell  to  thee !  indefatigable  worker,  with  an  iron  frame  J 
Farewell  to  thee !  undaunted  friend,  with  a  faithful  breast ! 
Farewell  to" thee !  loyal  citizen,  with  patriotic  impulses ! 
Farewell  to  thee !  stalwart  politician,  intrepid  counselor, 

Fearless  adviser,  genial  companion ! 
We  mourn  for  thee!  A  Senator  without  reproach; 

A  man  without  stain ; 

A  soul  above  suspicion. 

"  The  air  is  thick  with  death.     His  flying  shafts 
Strike  down  to-day  the  bravest  in  the  land ; 
And  here  and  there,  how  suddenly  he  wafts 
His  fatal  arrows !    Nor  can  long  withstand 
The  mailed  warrior,  or  the  statesman  manned, 
Against  him.     But  why  should  he  hasten  on 

*  *  *  *  to  strike  one  down 

Just  in  the  zenith  of  his  strength  and  glory  of  renown  T 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAH  CHANDLER. 


79 


"  CHANDLER!  above  thy  grave  wo  bow  in  tears! 

The  generous  friend,  the  unrelenting  foe, 
In  halls  of  state  who  stood  for  many  years, 
Like  fableil  knight,  thy  visage  all  aglow! 

Receiving,  giving  sternly,  blow  for  blow  ! 

*•••••• 

"  Champion  of  right!    But  from  eternity's  far  shore 
Thy  spirit  will  return  to  join  the  strife  no  more. 
Rest,  statesman,  rest!     Thy  troubled  life  is  o'er." 


Address  of  Mr.  WILLIAMS,  of  Wisconsin. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  The  largest  tree  in  the  forest  sometimes 
breaks  the  stillness  of  the  day  by  the  suddenness  of  its  fall : 
so  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  startled  a  continent  when  he  went 
down  to  death !  Thirty-six  hours  before  he  died  he  was  the 
guest  of  my  own  city.  He  spoke  there,  both  in  the  afternoon 
and  evening,  each  time  to  a  large  concourse  of  people.  He 
retired  at  twelve  o'clock,  and  rested  well  through  the  night. 

Many  of  our  citizens  bade  him  good-bye  at  the  early  train  for 
Chicago ;  and  little  did  they  think  as  the  cars  rolled  out  into 
the  light  of  that  beautiful  morning  that  it  was  the  last  he  was 
ever  to  behold  on  earth !  Yet  so  it  was,  for  within  twenty- 
one  hours  thereafter  he  was  dead. 

I  think  only  those  who  saw  him  during  these  last  hours  of 
his  life  could  realize  the  suddenness  of  his  death.  Though  the 
grim  messenger  walked  beside  him,  no  shadow  fell  upon  his 
pathway.  His  thoughts  were  all  of  life;  he  could  scarcely 
have  been  thinking  of  the  possibilities  of  death ;  his  every  act 
and  energy  was  devoted  to  the  work  before  him ;  he  talked  of 
nothing  else,  and  apparently  he  thought  of  nothing  else. 

He  was  the  avant  courier  of  republicanism.  His  voice  had 
rung  out  from  Maine  to  Wisconsin.  He  had  moved  the  people 
by  the  potency  of  his  presence  and  the  earnestness  of  his  ap- 


80  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   WILLIAMS   ON   THE 

peals.  He  believed  that  national  destiny  itself  trembled  in 
the  balance,  and  he  imparted  this  belief  to  the  masses  where- 
ever  he  went,  for  they  knew  that  his  heart  was  in  his  work 
and  his  convictions  were  in  his  words. 

Amid  scenes  like  these  it  could  hardly  have  been  possible 
that  he  had  a  thought  of  what  was  to  come.  He  could  scarcely 
have  dreamed  that  while  yet  the  plaudits  of  thousands  were 
ringing  in  his  ears  he  was  to  meet,  in  the  heart  of  that  great 
city,  in  the  dead  hour  of  the  night,  in  the  silent  loneliness  of 
his  room,  that  dread  messenger,  who  gave  no  warning  and 
accepted  no  delay ;  yet  so  it  was,  for  he  awoke  only  from  the 
sleep  of  life  to  sink  back  again  in  the  sleep  of  death. 

No,  Mr.  Speaker,  none  but  those  who  remember  the  earnest 
manner  and  pathetic  voice  with  which  he  besought  the  chair 
man  of  each  successive  meeting  to  telegraph  him  at  Detroit  on 
the  night  of  the  election  the  result  of  the  contest  can  realize 
the  overmastering  interest  which  had  taken  possession  of  him. 
The  news  he  so  longed  to  hear  did  indeed  flash  along  the  wires, 
but  whether  it  died  out  in  the  darkness  of  that  shoreless  sea, 
or  whether  it  penetrated  the  mystic  regions  of  the  great  be 
yond,  no  word  ever  comes  back  to  tell  us. 

We  who  speak  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  here  to-day  must 
speak  of  him  as  he  was,  for  he  never  feared  to  speak  for  him 
self.  And  his  words  will  be  cherished  and  remembered  when 
ours  are  lost  and  forgotten.  No  flowers  of  rhetoric,  no  high- 
wrought  historic  parallels,  no  half-drawn  apologies  for  what  he 
was  or  what  he  did,  will  do  for  him. 

He  was  a  plain,  blunt  man.  He  was  combative,  he  was  aggress 
ive,  and  in  what  he  believed  to  be  right  he  was  relentless.  He 
was  a  man  of  the  people,  he  was  a  friend  of  the  poor,  he  loved 
liberty,  he  hated  oppression,  he  abhorred  treason,  and  he  detested 
hypocrisy.  He  was  a  partisan,  he  was  a  patriot,  he  was  a  hero ! 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAII   CHANDLER.       81 

Like  tbe  oak  he  resembled,  he  was  reared  iii  storms  and 
rocked  in  tempests.  Strong  and  massive  in  body,  he  was 
stronger  in  will ;  firm  in  principles,  he  was  formidable  in  argu 
ment  ;  quick  to  see  the  salient  points  of  a  question,  he  brought 
his  broad  common  sense  to  bear  upon  it,  and  not  infrequently 
by  a  single  sally  ho  broke  through  and  demolished  a  whole 
battle-line  of  sophistry.  Who  can  ever  forget  the  expression 
of  that  face,  or  the  instantaneous  effect  produced  upon  thou 
sands,  when  from  the  rostrum  he  put  that  one  question : 

If  this  is  not  a  government,  what  did  the  rebels  surrender  to  at  Appo- 
mattoxT  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  they  surrendered  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  of  America! 

Or  when,  on  that  memorable  night,  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  he  made  that  terrific  onslaught  which  startled 
both  sides  of  the  Chamber  and  roused  the  whole  country, 
what  member  even  of  the  opposition  who  did  not  feel  the 
force  of  what  he  said?  In  the  language  of  Mr.  Webster,  it 
was  one  of  those  outbursts  of  passion  and  power  which,  if 
they  come  at  all,  come  "like  the  outbreaking  of  a  fountain 
from  the  earth,  or  the  bursting  forth  of  volcanic  fires,  with 
spontaneous,  original,  native  force ! " 

This  was  the  secret  of  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  power.  His  methods 
were  clear  and  practical,  his  reasoning  synthetic,  and  his  at 
tacks  spontaneous  and  irresistible.  While  others  were  exam 
ining  the  bricks  and  mortar  in  the  structure,  and  carefully 
calculating  the  resistance  to  be  overcome,  he  selected  his 
point  of  attack,  and  with  a  crowbar  and  sledge  breached  the 
walls,  and  carried  the  citadel  by  storm. 

Savants  and  philosophers  may  style  these  methods  crude 
and  Western,  but  while  the  names  of  Douglas,  Morton,  and 
CHANDLER  live  the  people  will  believe  them  to  possess  an  innate 
force  which  all  the  learning  of  the  schools  cannot  give. 


11  o 


82  ADDRESS   OF  ME.   WILLIAMS   ON   THE 

The  opinion  is  often  expressed  that  certain  very  good  and 
competent  men  are  holding  back  a  political  millennium  by 
their  persistent  refusal  to  accept  office  and  enter  upon  public 
life.  Somebody  has  ungraciously  said  of  such,  that  they  were 
made  up  of  two  parts  of  selfishness  and  two  of  timidity.  I 
know  not  how  the  fact  may  be,  but  if  it  be  true,  ZACHARIAH 
CHANDLER  did  not  belong  to  this  class.  He  never  took 
counsel  either  of  his  selfishness  or  his  fears.  He  was  not 
possessed  of  that  happy  temperament  which  enabled  him 
to  stand  quietly  by  while  aggressive  wrong  was  crushing 
out  defenseless  right. 

By  the  very  nature  of  his  make-up,  he  was  forced  to  enter 
the  arena.  And  thus  he  met  all  the  malignity,  denunciation, 
and  abuse  which  ever  come  to  the  earnest,  the  faithful,  and 
the  true.  Yet  nothing  could  dissuade  him.  The  critical  might 
carp,  the  mediocre  patronize,  and  the  malign  scoff  and  deride, 
but  all  the  pigmies  of  earth  and  sky  could  not  stay  the  daunt 
less  old  hero  in  the  work  he  had  marked  out  for  himself.  To 
such  a  man  the  holding  of  civil  office  was  the  merest  incident 
in  the  world ;  for  whether  in  public  or  private  life  he  was 
the  natural  defender  of  the  people. 

That  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  intense  and  bitter,  that  he  some 
times  wrongly  suspicioned  the  motives  and  acts  of  others,  is 
only  to  say  that  he  belonged  to  the  class  of  positive  men ;  but 
that  under  it  all  there  was  a  broad  and  generous  sincerity  and 
a  heart  as  tender  as  a  child's  none  who  knew  him  need  to  be 
told.  He  was,  indeed,  in  earnest;  but  if  any  supposed  his 
earnestness  took  on  only  the  cold  malignity  of  hate,  they 
studied  his  character  to  but  little  purpose.  I  could  only 
claim  to  know  him  as  we  all  knew  him  here,  yet  I  do  not  care 
to  be  told  that  he  was  moved  by  other  than  the  loftiest  and 
purest  motives. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       83 

Only  the  night  but  one  before  he  died,  in  my  own  house,  in 
common  with  others,  I  saw  that  firm  lip  quiver  and  those  stern 
eyes  moisten  as  he  recounted  the  measureless  wrongs  which 
had  been  visited  upon  the  poor  freedmen  of  the  South ;  and  I 
believe  mortal  man  was  never  actuated  by  higher  or  holier  mo 
tives  than  he  when  he  swore  by  the  God  that  made  him  that 
he  would  never  bate  one  jot  nor  tittle  of  effort  until  these  mon 
strous  wrongs  should  be  righted. 

I  allude  to  these  things  here  in  no  partisan  spirit,  for  that 
should  be  banished  from  these  halls  to-day;  but  I  speak  of 
them  only  to  bo  just  to  him  in  his  grave,  as  he  was  just  and 
fearless  before  all  the  world.  And  I  feel  sure  that  could  he 
have  left  any  injunction  behind,  it  would  have  been :  "  If  you 
speak  of  me  at  all,  in  the  language  of  sacred  song,  speak  of 

me— 
Just  as  I  am." 

Burke  I  think  it  was  who  said  that  true  sentiment  was  the 
logic  of  common  sense.  Such,  I  think,  was  the  sentiment  of 
ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.  It  was  plain,  practical,  and  direct. 

No  more  touching  provisions  can  be  found  in  the  wills 
of  public  men  than  in  those  of  Thaddeus  Stevens  and  Mr. 
CHANDLER.  While  the  former  made  no  provision  for  the 
care  of  his  own  grave,  he  set  aside  a  sum  of  money  and  di 
rected  that  the  "  sexton  keep  his  mother's  grave  in  good  order, 
and  plant  roses  and  other  cheerful  flowers  at  its  four  corners 
every  spring." 

So  Mr.  CHANDLER,  with  just  words  enough  to  express  his 
meaning,  said,  in  effect,  to  his  wife  and  daughter,  "  You  are 
my  only  heirs ;  as  you  have  loved  and  trusted  me,  so  I  love 
and  confide  in  you.  I  lay  my  fortune  at  your  feet,  and  that 
you  may  be  unfettered  in  its  enjoyment  and  use,  I  relieve  it 
from  any  word  coming  back  from  the  grave." 


84          ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HUBBELL  ON  THE 

Could  affection  be  more  tender?  Could  confidence  be  more 
complete?  Where  shall  the  well-springs  of  the  human  heart 
be  better  studied  than  in  the  wills  of  these  two  remarkable 
men? 

Impartial  history  will  assign  Mr.  CHANDLER  his  proper 
place  in  the  ranks  of  America's  public  men.  We  cannot  do 
that  here  to-day.  It  may,  however,  be  safely  said  that  if  Sew- 
ard,  Chase,  and  Sumner  might  draft  the  plans  for  the  fabric 
of  freedom,  Wade,  Stevens,  and  CHANDLER  might  lay  its  foun 
dations  and  lift  its  walls  to  completion.  Noble  trio!  How 
fiercely  they  wrought;  how  well  they  triumphed. 

The  last  of  them  now  sleeps  on  the  banks  of  the  river  he 
loved  so  fondly.  And  to-day  Wisconsin  comes  with  her  fos 
ter-mother,  Michigan,  to  lay  a  garland  upon  his  grave.  He 
loved  to  tell  us  that  the  boundaries  of  his  own  county  of 
Wayne  once  embraced  both  our  States.  Eepresentatives  of 
Michigan,  your  loss  is  our  loss ;  and  over  our  common  calamity 
a  nation  grieves  to-day.  We  come  to  mingle  our  tears  with 
yours,  and  to  utter  the  fervent  prayer  that  he  who  sleeps 
so  near  your  metropolis  may  rest  in  peace  so  long  as  that  city 
shall  stand — yea,  so  long  as  the  waters  that  roll  by  it  flow  out 
ward  to  the  sea. 


Address  of  Mr.  HUBBELL,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  It  is  said  that  "death  loves  a  shining  mark, 
a  signal  blow."  Than  in  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  whose  death 
to-day  we  mourn  in  common  with  the  whole  patriotic  people 
of  the  nation,  the  "fell  sergeant"  has  had  few  more  brilliant 
marks,  has  struck  few  nobler  lives,  and  the  Eepublic  has  had 
to  mourn  no  more  useful  citizen,  no  more  upright  or  purer 
patriot. 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.        85 

Mr.  CHANDLER  was  a  native  of  New  England.  He  was 
born  at  Bedford,  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  December 
10,  1813;  in  the  State  which  gave  birth  to  and  molded  the 
character  of  Daniel  Webster;  in  the  land  of  strong  convic 
tions,  of  sterling  integrity,  of  uncompromising  patriotism,  and 
inflexible  devotion  to  freedom.  Here  in  his  native  State, 
building  up  a  vigorous  frame  and  robust  health  among  its 
granite  hills — here  amid  its  noble  associations  and  grand  in 
stitutions  of  learning ;  amid  a  people  rejoicing  in  their  revo 
lutionary  history — in  its  perils  and  privations  and  its  glories 
and  triumphs — loving  freedom  and  hating  oppression,  ZACH- 
ARIAH  CHANDLER  imbibed  those  rigid  principles  of  justice, 
that  invincible  love  of  freedom  and  of  country,  that  incor 
ruptible  integrity  which  he  transplanted  in  his  new  home  in 
the  then  "far  West,"  and  which  distinguished  every  act  of 
his  public  life,  and  in  support  of  which  he  died  literally  in 
harness. 

In  his  home  in  Michigan,  the  State  of  his  adoption,  these 
sterling  qualities  were  combined  with  and  regulated  by  an 
intelligence  and  sagacity  so  rarely  at  fault  as  to  enable  him 
to  amass  an  ample  fortune,  place  him  at  the  head  of  the  busi 
ness  men  of  the  State,  and  soon  point  him  out  as  a  man  of 
mark,  as  a  man  of  rare  and  genuine  merit,  of  great  force  of 
character,  of  intrepid  courage  and  sterling  worth,  and  won 
for  him  the  respect,  confidence,  and  enduring  love  of  its  people. 

No  man  was  ever  trusted  in  public  or  private  life  as  was 
ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  by  the  people  of  Michigan,  and  no 
man  ever  ended  a  public  career  against  whose  integrity  less 
could  be  said. 

No  position  in  their  gift,  however  high  or  responsible,  no 
honor,  however  great,  was  too  high  for  his  merits  or  too  great 
for  their  love.  Thus  in  1851  he  was  mayor  of  Detroit;  in 


86          ADDRESS  OP  ME.  HUBBELL  ON  THE 

1852  the  whig  candidate  for  governor ;  in  1857,  a  Senator  of 
the  United  States;  in  1863,  re-elected  as  Senator;  in  1869, 
again  re-elected;  and  again  in  1879.  In  1875  he  was  given 
by  President  Grant  the  portfolio  of  the  Interior.  In  every 
trust  he  acquitted  .himself  honorably,  fearlessly,  ably,  and  re 
turned  it  impressed  with  the  marks  of  his  genius. 

In  nothing,  indeed,  was  Mr.  CHANDLER  an  ordinary  man. 
As  a  husband  and  a  father  and  a  friend,  ever  faithful,  trust 
ing,  and  true,  his  great,  manly  heart  delighted  in  exhibitions 
of  the  tenderest  devotion.  He  never  abandoned  a  friend,  and 
was  ever  truest  and  most  devoted  to  him  in  the  hour  of  his 
misfortune  or  trials.  He  was  not  a  place-seeker  nor  a  time- 
server  ;  but  he  was  a  lover  of  his  country  and  a  hater  of  its 
enemies,  and  always  filled  to  the  measure  the  place  he  occu 
pied;  and  being  a  man  of  strong  convictions  and  dauntless 
courage  the  enemies  of  his  country  always  felt  his  presence, 
and  were  never  spared  his  bitterest  invectives. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  knew  Mr.  CHANDLER  intimately.  He  was 
to  me  a  "friend,  philosopher,  and  guide,"  and  I  should  be 
unjust  to  his  memory  did  I  not  speak  of  him  as  he  was — a  man 
who  always  acted  his  honest  convictions  without  regard  to  or 
fear  of  the  consequences. 

As  a  Cabinet  minister,  with  the  portfolio  of  the  most  com 
plicated  and  troublesome  Department  of  the  Government, 
noted  for  its  intrigues  and  scandals,  the  Interior,  with  its  im 
portant  divisions  and  the  intricate  and  delicate  character  of 
many  of  their  important  duties  very  difficult  to  comprehend 
and  to  intelligently  manage,  and  rendered  doubly  so  by  out 
side  combinations  for  the  promotion  of  private  advantage  and 
fraud — in  that  responsible  and  difficult  trust,  his  masterly 
executive  ability,  his  great  common  sense,  his  disciplined  busi 
ness  habits,  his  integrity,  his  wonderful  industry,  his  intuitive 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLKR.         87 

knowledge  of  men  and  their  motives,  and  his  great  courage 
and  nerve  rendered  his  administration  such  a  marked  success 
that  his  able  and  accomplished  successor  publicly  admitted 
that  his  ambition  was  to  leave  the  Department  in  as  good 
shape  as  he  received  it.  He  never  parleyed  with  men  whom 
he  believed  to  be  dishonest.  To  illustrate  his  blunt  and  direct 
methods,  pardon  an  anecdote :  Soon  after  he  took  charge  of 
the  Interior  Department,  I  met  him  here  in  Washington  and 
the  usual  salutations  had  hardly  passed  between  us  when  he 
said:  "I  have  been  reforming  in  the  Interior  Department  to 
day."  And  in  reply  to  my  query  as  to  what  he  had  done  he 
replied:  "  I  have  emptied  one  large  room  and  left  it  in  charge 
of  a  colored  porter,  who  has  the  key,  who  cannot  read  or  write, 
and  who  is  instructed  to  allow  no  one  to  enter  it  without  my 
orders,  and  I  am  under  the  impression  that  the  public  inter 
ests  are  safe  so  far  as  that  room  and  its  business  are  concerned 
until  I  can  find  some  honest  men  to  put  into  it."  A  further 
conversation  developed  the  fact  that  by  plain  business  meth 
ods  he  had  collected  his  proofs,  and  thus  armed  he  could  only 
deal  a  deadly  blow.  Thus  early  he  mastered  all  the  intricate 
and  difficult  details  of  the  service;  early  he  clearly  compre 
hended  its  needs  and  vigorously  and  laboriously  applied  him 
self  to  their  practical  accomplishment.  In  short,  he  estab 
lished  order  where  chaos  previously  ruled,  reorganized  details, 
secured  efficiency,  and  effected  a  due  responsibility  in  all  the 
branches  of  the  service. 

Honest  himself,  he  tolerated  no  doubtful  practices,  no  im 
proper  relations  in  the  Department.  Fraud  vanished  at  his 
touch.  Incoinpetency  and  imbecility  met  their  reward,  and 
he  transmitted  the  portfolio  to  his  successor  with  the  Depart 
ment  purged  of  many  injurious  scandals,  and  the  service,  in 
all  its  details,  greatly  simplified  and  improved. 


88 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HU33BELL  ON  THE 


As  a  Senator,  Borne,  in  the  days  of  her  highest  virtue  and 
greatest  strength,  had  none  nobler,  purer,  or  more  fearless. 
Entering  the  Senate  during  the  stormy  debates  and  violent 
struggles  of  the  sections  on  the  question  of  slavery,  Mr.  CHAN 
DLER  stepped  at  once  to  the  front  as  a  recognized  and  trusted 
leader  on  the  side  of  freedom.  The  times  were  full  of  peril, 
and  terribly  tested  all  the  metal  in  men's  souls.  But  during 
that  struggle,  in  debate,  from  1857  until  1860,  carried  on  on 
the  one  side  by  patriotic,  liberty-loving  men,  who  hated  slav 
ery  and  antagonized  it  because  they  dreaded  its  extension, 
and  on  the  other  by  men  who  worshiped  slavery,  were  bound 
to  extend  and  perpetuate  it  or  destroy  the  common  govern 
ment  inherited  from  the  fathers,  who  recognized  the  code,  and 
under  its  bloody  rules  tried  to  intimidate  the  representatives 
of  the  people  from  the  Northern  States  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duties,  no  man  ever  did  or  will  say  that  ZACHARIAH 
CHANDLER  ever  faltered  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty  as  he 
saw  it.  He  abhorred  the  code,  condemned  alike  by  the  laws 
of  man  and  of  God,  yet  while  in  the  discharge  of  his  public 
trusts  it  had  no  terrors  for  him,  and  never  caused  him  for  a 
moment  to  falter  in  the  full  and  complete  performance  of  his 
duties. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  enter  into  that  memorable  de 
bate  upon  the  question  of  slavery  and  the  rights  of  the  States 
which  preceded  and  culminated  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion, 
more  than  to  say  that  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  sagacity  readily  pen 
etrated  the  designs  of  the  southern  leaders,  readily  saw  that 
slavery  was  only  a  means  to  the  consummation  of  their  pur 
pose — the  disruption  of  the  Union.  Indignantly  and  vehe 
mently  he  raised  his  voice  in  exposure  of  this  traitorous  plot. 
He  was  "  no  orator  as  Brutus  "  was.  He  apparently  despised 
all  mere  ornaments  of  speech,  but  in  his  vigorous,  terse  En- 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACIIARIAH   CHANDLER.          89 

glish  he  left  no  doubt  as  to  his  meaning  and  purpose.  And 
thus  he  fearlessly  labored  everywhere  and  on  all  occasions  to 
arouse  the  country  to  a  sense  of  the  impending  danger,  and  to 
prepare  it  for  a  conflict  of  arms  in  support  of  the  Union.  He 
had  no  faith  in  compromise,  but  felt  that  the  inevitable  and 
deadly  conflict  must  come,  and  tried  to  prepare  his  countrymen 
for  it.  The  events  which  rapidly  followed  demonstrated  the 
wisdom  as  they  did  the  justice  of  his  conclusions  and  his 
course.  The  rebellion  came  upon  us  with  its  appalling  sacri 
fices  and  sufferings  and  uwfully  vindicated  his  sagacity  and 
the  justice  of  his  charges  against  the  southern  leaders. 

Great  names  and  great  men,  so  called,  unless  distinguished 
by  worth  and  patriotic  motives  and  corresponding  actions, 
received  from  him  no  homage.  His  country  to  him  was  all  in 
all.  Every  patriotic  man  he  claimed  as  a  friend,  and  to  every 
patriot,  to  all  patriots,  of  every  grade  or  character,  if  their 
sincerity  were  demonstrated  by  works,  he  yielded  his  whole 
support,  all  his  weight  and  influence. 

But  the  man  who  laid  himself  down  in  the  pathway  of  his 
country's  honor  and  glory,  the  man  who,  whether  from  imbe 
cility  or  design,  obstructed  or  impeded  his  country's  triumph 
ant  march  to  victory,  to  perfect  and  permanent  peace,  to  that 
man  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  was  an  inflexible  foe,  and  to  him 
he  fearlessly  proclaimed  his  hostility. 

As  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War 
he  was  active,  terribly  in  earnest,  and  untiring  in  industry, 
and  rendered  to  the  nation  the  most  important  services.  No 
name,  however  high,  baffled  his  inquiries  or  escaped  his  judg 
ment. 

Notwithstanding  he  had  regarded  McClellan's  appointment 
as  wise  and  judicious,  yet,  for  reasons  already  made  a  part  of 
our  country's  history,  he  boldly  arraigned  him  in  the  face  of 


12  c 


90          ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HUBBELL  ON  THE 

the  country,  in  the  teeth  of  his  great  popularity  and  the  great 
power  he  wielded  in  command  of  the  armies,  as  utterly  incom 
petent  for  the  weighty  duties  of  his  high  position,  and  de 
manded  his  removal,  as  justified  by  the  highest  reasons  of  ex 
pediency  and  the  loftiest  motives  of  patriotism. 

Believing  that  Pope,  at  second  Bull  Bun,  was  sacrificed  by 
Fitz-John  Porter,  and  that  our  loss  of  life  and  disaster  at  that 
battle  was  caused  by  Porter's  insubordination,  he  boldly  de 
nounced  him  as  a  traitor  to  his  country  and  demanded  his  trial 
and  punishment. 

Against  all  men  whom  he  believed  to  be  untrue  to  his 
country  in  her  hour  of  peril,  his  great  patriotic  heart  instinct 
ively  rebelled,  and  they  were  made  the  victims  of  his  terrible 
denunciations. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  ended,  Mr.  CHANDLER  took  a 
prominent  part  in  that  legislation  which  reconstructed  the 
States  in  rebellion  and  gave  them  representation  in  the  halls 
of  Congress,  and  here  as  elsewhere  his  career  was  marked  by 
the  same  distinguishing  traits  of  character. 

Coming  into  the  Senate  again  in  1878,  he  immediately 
stepped  to  the  front  and  the  country  knew  that  plain,  honest 
old  ZACH.  CHANDLER,  as  they  loved  to  call  him,  was  again  in 
his  seat,  and  the  democratic  party,  which  he  never  loved,  was 
made  painfully  aware  of  his  presence.  Stripping  the  guise  of 
flimsy  pretexts  from  off  the  reasons  actuating  the  men  who 
forced  the  extra  session,  he  sounded  the  key-note  of  alarm — 
the  bugle-call  of  the  campaign  of  1879,  in  which  he  labored 
day  and  night,  closing  his  great  work  in  one  of  the  ablest 
and  grandest  speeches  of  his  life  in  the  Garden  City  of 
America,  where,  ere  the  dawn  of  day  succeeded  his  great 
effort,  he  died.  The  life  of  a  great,  earnest,  honest,  and  broad- 
souled  man  went  silently  out  with  the  watches  of  the  night, 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.  ^  ,  91 

% 

and  in  his  death  the  Republic  mourns  an  upright  and  useful 
citizen,  a  noble  Senator,  a  peerless  patriot,  and  humanity  an 
abiding  friend.  Apparently  in  robust  health,  in  the  vigorous 
exercise  of  all  his  great  faculties,  peacefully  and  serenely, 
without  a  struggle  and  free  from  pain,  his  noble  spirit  sank 
into  the  "blind  cave  of  eternal  night,"  passed  triumphantly 
from  the  active  scenes  and  duties  of  worldly  life  to  the  judg 
ment-seat  of  his  God. 

Thus  yields  the  cedar  to  the  ax's  edge, 
Whose  arms  gave  shelter  to  the  princely  eagle ; 
Under  whose  shade  the  ramping  liou  slept; 
Whoso  top-branch  overpeer'd  Jove's  spreading  tree, 
And  kept  low  shrubs  from  winter's  powerful  wind. 

But,  though  dead,  he  is  not  forgotten.  In  every  patriot's 
home,  in  the  home  of  every  friend  of  humanity,  of  every 
friend  of  freedom  and  free  institutions,  his  name  will  long  be 
cherished  with  endearing  pride,  and  history  in  recording  his 
actions,  in  reviewing  his  services  to  his  country  and  to  man 
kind,  and  in  its  judgment  of  hie  character,  will  as  surely  rank 
him  high  among  the  good  and  great  men  of  his  times. 

Peace  to  his  ashes. 


Address  of  Mr.  CRAPO,  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  SPEAEER:  The  life  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  is  a 
marked  illustration  of  that  character  which  is  developed  by 
our  American  institutions  and  which  is  distinctly  American. 
In  no  other  country  and  under  no  other  system  of  society  and 
laws  do  we  look  for  the  manifestation  of  such  individual 
growth  and  power.  Starting  from  the  humble  surroundings 
of  a  New  England  farm,  with  the  limited  advantages  of  a 
plain  and  simple  country  home,  with  the  training  of  the  un- 


92  ADDRESS  OF  MR.   CRAPO   ON  THE 

pretending  fireside  and  village  school,  he  emerges  into  self- 
reliant  manhood.  Then  follow  the  struggles  of  life  amid  the 
activities  and  hardships  of  a  western  settlement;  the  compe 
titions  of  business,  bringing  substantial  rewards;  the  contests 
for  higher  position,  while  holding  securely  the  advances  made; 
the  reaching  out  for  wider  influence  and  greater  mastery  over 
the  thoughts  and  acts  of  men;  and,  finally,  the  control  and 
power  which  made  him  a  recognized  leader  and  a  mighty  force 
in  the  land.  With  no  external  advantages  to  aid  him,  he 
overcame  obstacles  and  conquered  opposition  and  secured  for 
himself  commanding  position  and  influence.  He  was  con 
scious  of  his  own  inherent  strength ;  he  knew  that  he  lived  in 
a  country  full  of  opportunities  to  the  earnest  and  faithful  man ; 
and  he  realized  that  in  this  free  land  men  have  equal  right  to 
place  and  wealth  and  power  if  they  have  will  and  strength  to* 
win  them.  He  asked  no  odds  and  he  accepted  no  gifts.  What 
he  was  and  what  he  possessed  came  as  the  result  and  reward 
of  his  own  personal  efforts.  He  did  not  drift  into  high  posi 
tions,  but  earned  them  by  sheer  exertion  and  force  of  char 
acter.  His  history  is  the  record  of  a  successful  man,  and  we 
can  find  few  more  impressive  examples,  even  in  this  country 
which  is  so  full  of  personal  achievements. 

In  private  life  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  bluff",  hearty,  and  sincere. 
He  was  outspoken  with  the  candor  of  positive  truth.  He  did 
not  conceal  his  admiration  of  one  whom  he  liked,  and  he  was 
equally  open  in  the  expression  of  disapprobation  of  one  he  dis 
liked.  He  was  frank  and  generous  in  his  approval,  and  he 
was  equally  free  and  severe  in  his  condemnation.  There  was 
an  integrity  in  his  friendship  and  an  earnestness  in  his  recog 
nition  of  friends  which  endeared  him  to  those  who  knew  him 
intimately. 

The  personal  qualities  which  marked  his  private  intercourse 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.        93 

were  still  more  conspicuous  in  bis  public  life.  There  was 
always  the  same  positiveness  of  manner  and  speech.  His 
large  frame,  his  vigorous  health,  and  commanding  presence 
were  not  more  remarkable  than  the  robustness  of  his  mind, 
his  stout  heart,  his  stalwart  courage,  and  resistless  energy. 

His  political  opinions  were  formed  during  the  controversies 
of  the  Missouri  compromise  and  the  attempt  to  establish 
slavery  in  Kansas.  He  entered  public  life  just  as  the  strug 
gle  for  national  supremacy  was  culminating  into  war.  He  re 
garded  it  as  a  question  of  liberty  or  slavery,  of  national  unity 
or  its  dismemberment.  He  saw  with  clear  vision  the  terrible 
magnitude  of  the  issue,  and  this  made  him  a  partisan.  It  was 
impossible  for  him  with  his  consciousness  and  convictions  to 
be  otherwise  than  a  partisan.  He  was  intensely  in  earnest. 
He  feared  southern  aggression,  and  unceasingly  fought  it;  he 
detested  disloyalty,  and  was  bold  in  his  discoveries  of  it;  he 
abhorred  the  rebellion  with  intolerant  hatred,  and  labored  for 
its  destruction.  He  would  grant  no  concession  where  he  be 
lieved  the  principle  was  vital,  and,  however  hot  or  bitter,  or 
uncertain  the  fight,  he  neither  gave  nor  asked  for  quarter. 
During  the  dark  days  of  war  his  heart  never  faltered  and  his 
voice  never  trembled.  He  exacted  the  utmost  fidelity  and  dili 
gence  from  those  who  supported  the  Union  cause,  and  had  little 
respect  or  charity  for  those  who  brought  failure  to  its  arms.  His 
watchfulness  and  aggressiveness  did  not  cease  with  the  war. 
When  conciliation  seemed  to  have  failed,  and  the  old  strife,  which 
it  was  supposed  had  been  buried  on  the  battle-field,  was  revived 
in  Congress,  Mr.  CHANDLER  naturally  came  to  the  front,  and 
with  the  same  defiant  courage  of  opinion  which  gave  him  master 
influence  during  the  war,  he  proclaimed  in  the  Senate,  and  before 
the  people,  the  dangers  which  threatened  the  peace  and  good  or 
der  of  the  nation,  in  language  which  could  not  be  misunderstood. 


94  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   CRAPO   ON   THE 

Perhaps  in  a  less  turbulent  period  of  our  history  Mr. 
CHANDLER  would  not  have  occupied  so  prominent  a  place. 
He  was  not  a  great  statesman,  but  he  was  needed  in  an 
exigency,  and  most  nobly  did  he  meet  the  requirement.  No 
man  better  understood  the  patriotic  impulses  of  the  people, 
and  no  man  had  greater  power  in  expressing  and  arousing 
popular  sentiment.  He  was  in  sympathy  with  the  masses; 
he  had  an  intense  sense  of  justice  between  man  and  man;  he 
estimated  men  according  to  their  true  worth;  he  never  stood 
upon  his  dignity,  nor  by  word  or  manner  indicated  any  per 
sonal  superiority.  The  coarse  dress  and  rough  manner  did 
not  repel  him,  but  every  man,  however  plain  or  humble,  was 
at  ease  in  his  presence.  He  stood  nearer  to  the  people  and 
had  a  stronger  hold  upon  them  than  any  other  Senator. 

The  secret  of  his  success  and  his  control  of  the  popular 
mind  may  be  found  in  his  sincerity,  his  intensity,  his  con 
stancy,  and  his  directness.  There  was  no  deceit  in  his  nature. 
You  were  never  left  in  doubt  about  his  views,  and,  what  is 
more,  he  was  never  in  doubt  himself.  You  always  knew  where 
v  to  find  him.  He  used  vigorous  Saxon.  His  utterances  were 

plain  and  terse.  His  illustrations,  although  sometimes  extrav 
agant,  were  full  of  rugged  meaning,  and  what  they  lacked  in 
elegance  was  made  up  in  force.  Whatever  he  said  he  meant 
should  be  understood  just  as  he  said  it. 

There  was  nothing  negative  about  him.  His  policy  was 
never  timid  nor  vacillating.  However  great  the  responsi 
bility,  he  never  hesitated  to  assume  it,  but  he  always  went  to 
the  front.  It  was  this  positive,  aggressive,  uncompromising 
spirit  which  gave  him  leadership  and  enabled  him  to  infuse 
courage  into  men  of  less  boldness.  He  was  impatient  of  oppo 
sition,  and  as  ready  to  condemn  his  own  party  associates  as 
his  opponents  when  their  policy  was  at  variance  with  his  own. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER  OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.       95 

Mr.  CHANDLER  was  not  free  from  faults,  and  he  never  at 
tempted  their  concealment.  Every  one  knew  what  manner  of 
man  he  was.  He  made  no  claim  to  greatness,  nor  to  any 
special  merit.  The  men  who  denounced  him  as  a  bitter  par 
tisan,  and  who  threw  stones  of  hate  and  ridicule  against  him, 
even  now,  before  the  period  of  passionate  strife  in  which  he 
was  an  actor  has  entirely  passed  away,  have  acknowledged 
his  virtues. 

His  personal  integrity,  his  resistless  energy,  his  burning 
patriotism,  his  rugged  frankness,  and  his  fearless  devotion  to 
duty,  made  him  conspicuous  in  the  legislation  of  the  country 
and  in  the  councils  of  his  party. 

He  died  with  the  harness  on,  in  the  mid  day  of  his  fame  and 
usefulness,  actively  participating  with  all  the  fervor  of  his 
nature  in  the  struggle  which  he  believed  of  vital  consequence 
to  his  countrymen. 

We  cannot  but  admire  the  character  of  a  man  who  "was  the 
architect  of  his  own  fortune,"  and  who,  under  a  beneficent  and 
free  governim  nt,  which  gives  equal  advantages  to  all,  relying 
upon  his  own  brave  heart  and  strong  arm  and  indomitable 
will,  won  a  name  and  wielded  a  power  which  will  continue  far 
beyond  the  generation  iii  which  he  lived. 


Address  of  Mr.  BREWER,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  On  the  1st  day  of  November  last  the  sad  an 
nouncement  was  made  that  Senator  CHANDLER  was  dead; 
that  his  lifeless  remains  were  found  hi  bed  at  the  Pacific 
Hotel,  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  The  report  was  doubted  at  first 
by  the  friends  of  the  deceased  Senator,  but  all  doubt  was  soon 
removed,  and  the  city  and  State  of  his  adoption  arrayed  them 
selves  in  the  habiliments  of  mourning.  Senator  CHANDLER 


96  ADDRESS   OF  MB.   BREWER   ON   THE 

was  known  to  more  of  the  people  of  Michigan  than  any  other 
of  her  citizens.  The  name  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  or  "  Old 
Zach,"  as  he  was  more  commonly  called,  was  familiar  in  every 
household,  and  was  spoken  with  the  utmost  freedom  by  old 
and  young  alike;  but  to-day,  to  them,  his  voice  is  stilled  in 
death;  to-day  his  name  is  spoken  with  sadness  and  sorrow 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  at  least  in  every  Northern 
State.  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  life  in  many  respects  was  an  eventful 
one.  Born  in  the  town  of  Bedford,  amid  the  rugged  hills  of  a 
New  Hampshire  home,  he  soon  began  to  exhibit  those  traits 
of  character  which  in  after  life  made  him  so  prominent.  In 
1833,  when  but  twenty  years  of  age,  he  became  satisfied  that 
his  native  State  was  no  field  in  which  to  develop  his  busi 
ness  powers,  and  he  sought  a  home  in  the  then  undevel 
oped  great  Northwest,  and  found  it  in  the  city  of  Detroit. 
What  a  broad  field  was  then  opened  to  the  view  of  the  ener 
getic  young  New  Englander!  Nearly  all  our  country  west 
of  Buffalo  at  that  time  was  but  an  uninhabited  wilderness; 
Michigan  was  but  a  Territory,  with  a  few  thousand  inhabit 
ants,  and  contained  within  its  territorial  government  what  is 
now  known  as  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  The  city  of  Detroit 
was  but  a  small  town,  its  inhabitants  being  largely  engaged 
in  trade  with  the  natives  of  the  forest.  But  the  city  of  De 
troit  to-day  is  one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Northwest,  while 
Michigan  has  a  population  of  a  million  and  a  half  of  people, 
and  Wisconsin  nearly  an  equal  number,  and  both  of  these 
great  States  are  teeming  with  all  the  enterprise  and  industry 
of  the  age.  Such  result  was  obtained  during  the  years  of  Mr. 
CHANDLER'S  residence  in  Michigan,  and  was  largely  due  to 
his  fostering  care  while  in  official  life.  Wonder  not,  then,  that 
the  city  of  Detroit  and  the  State  of  Michigan  mourn  the  loss  of 
her  honored  dead,  for  he  was  always  a  watchful  guardian  of 


LIFE  AND  ('HARACTER  OF  ZACIIARIAII  CHANDLER.       97 

their  interests.  The  plain  result  of  his  watchful  care  for  his 
State  and  his  desire  to  advance  her  prosperity  while  in  public 
life  is  visible  along  all  the  great  chain  of  lakes  and  rivers  which 
encompass  her  borders.  No  one  has  done  more  to  advance 
and  build  up  the  interests  of  the  Northwest  than  the  late  Sen 
ator. 

When  Mr.  CHANDLER  arrived  in  Detroit,  like  thousands  of 
other  young  men  who  then  sought  a  home  in  the  West,  his 
greatest  wealth  was  his  robust  constitution,  and  his  chief  capi 
tal  to  start  with  in  the  great  battle  of  life  was  his  habits  of 
industry,  his  self-will,  pluck,  and  integrity.  Soon  after  his 
arrival  he  entered  into  a  business  partnership  in  the  drj^-goods 
trade  with  one  Franklin  Moore,  a  brother-in-law.  This  part 
nership  continued  but  for  a  few  years,  when  Mr.  Moore  retired 
from  the  firm,  Mr.  CHANDLER  continuing  in  the  business  until 
he  accumulated  a  fortune  and  became  the  most  prosperous 
merchant  in  the  State.  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  political  life  com 
menced  in  1851,  when  he  was  nominated  by  the  whigs  of  De 
troit  and  elected  mayor  of  said  city.  His  extensive  business 
had  made  him  acquaintances  and  friends  all  over  the  State, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1852  he  was  nominated  as  the  whig  candi 
date  for  governor,  but,  while  running  largely  ahead  of  his 
ticket,  he  was  defeated  by  Hon.  Robert  McClelland,  his  demo 
cratic  opponent.  He  made  his  first  political  speeches  in  his 
canvass  for  the  governorship,  and  soon  became-  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  whigs  of  his  State.  He  took  an  active  part  in 
the  formation  of  the  republican  party  at  Jackson  in  1854,  and 
a  leading  part  in  the  campaigns  of  1854  and  1856,  speaking  in 
every  part  of  the  State,  and  his  plain  logic,  clear  and  forcible 
language  gained  him  friends  wherever  he  went.  When  the 
republicans  obtained  control  of  the  Legislature  in  1856  the 
party  and  people  with  great  unanimity  demanded  the  election 


98  ADDRESS  OF  ME.  BREWER  ON  THE 

of  Mr.  CHANDLER  to  succeed  General  Lewis  Cass  in  the  Sen 
ate  of  the  United  States.  He  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1857,  and  was  twice  re-elected,  and  served 
continuously  for  eighteen  years.  The  venerable  HANNIBAL 
HAMLIN  is  the  only  one  of  his  first  associates  in  the  Senate 
who  is  serving  in  a  like  capacity  to-day,  and,  I  believe,  the 
only  one  now  in  public  life.  Nearly  all  others  sleep  the  last 
sleep.  At  the  time  Mr.  CHANDLER  entered  the  Senate  excite 
ment  ran  high  over  the  repeal  of  the  once  famous  Missouri 
compromise,  and  the  great  contest  relating  to  slavery  in  the 
Territories  was  soon  fought  out  between  the  friends  of  free 
dom  and  oppression. 

In  this  conflict  Mr.  CHANDLER  stood  boldly  up  for  the  fun 
damental  rights  of  man,  and  was  a  fit  representative  of  his 
great  liberty-loving  constituency.  The  continuous  eighteen 
years  of  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  senatorial  career  were  years  fraught 
with  momentous  events,  and  were  the  most  eventful  years  in 
American  history.  It  was  during  these  years  that  the  bond 
men  were  made  free,  that  the  nation  was  saved,  the  Union  re 
stored,  and  liberty  preserved  to  the  American  people.  It  was 
during  these  years  that  the  rights  of  man  were  more  firmly 
guaranteed  by  amendments  to  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
land.  It  was  during  the  later  years  of  Mr.  CHANDLER'S  life 
that  the  financial  credit  and  the  integrity  and  honor  of  the 
nation  were  at  stake ;  when  demagogues  sought  to  build  up  a 
political  organization  upon  their  country's  shame.  In  the  set 
tlement  of  all  these  great  questions,  the  vote  and  voice  of  the 
late  Senator  truly  represented  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  the 
people  of  his  State.  In  October,  1875,  Mr.  CHANDLER  was 
chosen  by  President  Grant  as  one  of  his  constitutional  ad 
visers,  and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Interior  Department, 
where  he  remained  until  March  4,  1877.  His  appointment,  at 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.       99 


first,  did  riot  meet  with  the  commendation  of  the  self  assumed 
high-toned  theoretical  politicians  of  his  party;  but  when  he 
passed  over  the  Interior  Department  to  his  successor,  the  peo 
ple  and  press  of  all  parties  vied  with  each  other  in  commending 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  conducted  the  duties  of  his  office. 
He  demonstrated  by  practical  experience  that  he  was  the  best 
reformer  of  the  civil  service  who  chose  his  assistants  and  em 
ploye's  because  of  their  practical  knowledge  of  the  duties  they 
were  selected  to  perform,  rather  than  he  who  selected  them 
because  they  succeeded  in  answering  questions  relating  to  mat 
ters  which  in  no  manner  pertained  to  their  official  duties.  As 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  he  purified  that  Department  of  the 
Government,  and  showed  an  executive  talent  surpassed  by  no 
one  who  had  filled  the  position. 

Upon  the  resignation  of  Senator  Christiancy  in  the  spring  of 
1879,  Mr.  CHANDLER,  as  is  well  known,  was  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  of  Michigan  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  such 
resignation.  In  his  long  official  life  his  great  executive  and 
business  ability,  his  industry  and  strict  integrity,  have  met 
the  highest  commendation  of  the  press  and  people  of  all  par 
ties.  No  one  has  ever  been  bold  enough  to  charge  ZACHA 
RIAH  CHANDLER  with  corruption  or  peculation  in  office.  Sen 
ator  CHANDLER  was  in  many  respects  truly  a  great  man.  He 
was  not  great  in  his  style  of  oratory ;  he  was  not  great  in  his 
classical  learning  or  in  his  knowledge  of  the  sciences,  but  he 
was  great,  powerfully  great,  in  his  knowledge  of  men.  He 
was  one  who  could  mold  public  opinion  and  assimilate  the 
judgment  of  men,  and  such  a  man  is  truly  great.  He  was 
a  leader  of  men ;  he  drew  about  him  in  his  political  councils 
not  only  the  aged,  but  the  young,  the  vigorous,  and  active;  he 
was  a  man  of  the  people  and  from  the  people,  and  herein  lay 
his  strength.  In  his  notions  he  was  practical.  His  language 


V 


100  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   BREWER   ON   THE 

was  plain,  and  his  ideas  were  clear  and  always  forcibly  ex 
pressed.  There  never  could  be  any  misapprehension  as  to 
which  side  of  a  business  or  political  question  he  was  on.  Mr. 
CHANDLER  was  a  partisan,  but  he  was  first  of  all  a  patriot. 
While  he  held  his  country  above  party,  yet  he  firmly  believed 
that  the  stability  of  the  nation  and  the  political  equality  and 
welfare  of  our  people  depended  upon  the  success  of  the  party 
he  so  faithfully  labored  for  and  loved  so  well.  He  was  bold, 
fearless,  and  aggressive  in  his  language  and  demeanor;  he 
was  uncompromising  in  his  utterances,  and  never  shrank  from 
characterizing  offenses  in  their  true  light.  Had  he  been  less 
fearless  he  might  at  times  have  excused  his  language  by  utter 
ing  words  spoken  by  another: 

Judge  me  not  ungentle, 
Of  manners  rude,  and  violent  of  speech, 
If  when  the  public  safety  is  in  question 
My  zeal  flows  warm  and  eager  from  my  tongue. 

But  he  made  no  apologies.  He  preferred  to  leave  his  coun 
trymen  to  judge  his  words  and  motives  from  his  patriotic  acts. 
Mr.  CHANDLER  was  a  positive  man.  He  threw  the  whole 
power  of  his  intellect  against  that  which  he  believed  to  be 
wrong,  and  he  never  wavered  in  his  struggle  to  promote  right 
and  advance  truth  and  justice.  He  was  possessed  of  great 
energy  and  great  mental  and  physical  powers,  and  he  never 
doubted  his  ability  to  accomplish  that  which  he  set  out  to  per 
form.  He  adopted  the  motto  of  another:  "Attempt  the  end 
and  never  stand  to  doubt."  If  we  look  back  over  the  pages 
of  the  world's  history  we  will  find  that  the  men  of  the  mold 
of  Mr.  CHANDLER,  men  that  were  positive,  aggressive,  bold 
and  fearless  in  the  right,  were  the  men  who  came  to  the  front 
in  advancing  the  great  principles  of  political  and  religious 
liberty.  Mr.  CHANDLER  above  all  was  an  honest  man,  in  ofli- 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      101 


cial  as  well  as  private  life.  He  was  plain  in  his  dress  and  sim 
ple  in  his  habits.  He  was  generous  with  his  means  and  the 
friend  of  the  needy  and  unfortunate,  and  thousands  of  such 
in  his  adopted  city  dropped  a  tear  over  his  bier  as  they  viewed 
his  manly  form  in  death.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  integ 
rity  of  the  American  people,  and  during  the  political  cam 
paign  of  1878  he  took  the  strongest  ground  in  favor  of  main 
taining  our  national  credit.  He  asserted  that  after  mature 
reflection  the  American  people  would  no  more  think  of  repu 
diating  the  nation's  obligations  than  they  would  think  of  sub 
mitting  to  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  itself,  and  he  gave  this 
fact  as  an  illustration  of  the  integrity  of  our  people.  He  said, 
during  the  late  war,  while  he  was  in  Washington,  that  he 
loaned  to  our  soldiers  several  thousands  of  dollars,  in  small 
sums  of  from  two  to  ten  dollars  to  each,  but  that  the  whole 
amount  was  repaid  to  him  with  the  exception  of  about  $10, 
and  he  was  satisfied  that  the  poor  men  who  owed  him  that 
small  amount  had  given  their  lives  for  their  country: 

Mr.  Speaker,  during  the  three  short  years  that  I  have  had 
the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this  body,  very  many  of  our  desks  have 
been  draped  in  mourning.  Our  legislative  associates  have 
fallen  all  around  us.  Not  only  the  small  in  stature  and  the 
physically  weak,  but  those  who  seemed  to  stand  like  mighty 
oaks  in  the  forest,  have  been  stricken  down  by  the  icy  hand  of 
death.  Surely  "  God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way." 

When  we  separated  and  went  to  our  homes  last  summer  no 
one  seemed  more  likely  to  return  in  the  vigor  of  health  and 
strength  than  he  for  whom  we  mourn  to-day;  but  as  a  great 
political  contest  in  which  he  had  taken  an  active  part  was 
about  to  close,  he  slept.  His  popularity  was  never  so  great  as 
on  the  day  of  his  death.  He  had  become  a  recognized  leader 
of  his  party,  and  his  words  gave  strength  and  wisdom  to  an 


102  ADDRESS   OF  MR.  ROBESON   ON   THE 

aggressive  host.  It  will  be  hard  to  fill  his  place  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation  or  in  the  leadership  of  his  party. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  CHANDLER 
in  1856,  and  he  was  then  known  by  the  familiar  name  of  "  Old 
Zach,"  yet  he  was  under  forty-three  years  of  age.  For  the  last 
twelve  years  of  his  life  I  knew  him  intimately,  personally,  and 
politically,  and  our  relations  were  very  friendly. 

Sir,  I  feel  that  the  nation  has  lost  a  patriotic  statesman,  his 
State  its  most  illustrious  citizen,  and  he  who  speaks  to  you  a 
noble  friend.  But  ZAOHARIAH  CHANDLER  is  gone.  In  the 
beautiful  "Elmwood,"  on  the  banks  of  a  mighty  river,  his 
friends  laid  him  to  rest,  where  his  ashes  will  mingle  with  the 
dust  of  other  illustrious  dead. 

In  common  with  the  people  of  the  State  he  served  so  well, 
and  which  honored  him  so  greatly,  and  of  the  Nation  whose 
rights,  honor,  and  power  he  was  such  an  uncompromising  de 
fender,  and  of  the  thousands  of  personal  friends  who  loved 
him,  we  cast  upon  his  bier  the  faithful  tribute  of  affection  and 
high  regard,  and  so  bid  him  a  last  farewell. 


Address  of  Mr.  ROBESON,  of  New  Jersey. 

From  rock-bound  coast  and  rugged  mountain-side,  from 
quiet  farms  and  busy  villages,  and  from  her  thronging  cen 
ters  of  culture  and  of  trade,  New  England  pours  her  eager  sons 
along  the  path  of  every  progress.  From  the  elevating  influ 
ence  of  her  noble  social  system,  from  her  clustering  churches, 
from  her  teeming  school-houses,  from  her  free  town-meetings, 
they  carry  the  impress  of  their  New  England  origin,  education, 
and  character  into  every  field  which  human  ambition  dares  to  in 
vade  or  human  energy  avails  to  conquer.  What  manner  of  men 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHAR1AII  CHANDLER.      103 

they  are,  who,  borii  of  Puritan  stock  and  inheriting  the  energies 
and  capactiies  of  Puritan  character,  develop  them  in  the  free 
air  and  under  the  boundless  horizon  of  the  prairies,  and  amid 
the  activity  and  vitality  of  pioneer  and  frontier  life,  we  know 
and  the  world  is  beginning  to  realize.  Carrying  with  them 
everywhere  the  mental  and  moral  qualities  of  their  New  Eng 
land  origin,  they  develop  them  in  scenes  of  more  intense  vitality 
and  amid  the  struggles  of  larger  elements  of  natural  force. 
Thus  is  produced  a  race  uniting  in  themselves  almost  every 
condition  of  physical,  intellectual,  and  political  development ; 
a  race  which  makes  a  new  and  mighty  element  of  power,  chal 
lenging  the  attention  and  commanding  the  respect  of  the 
world. 

These  reflections  are  suggested  by  a  picture  as  remarkable 
as  any  in  the  history  of  our  country,  and  which  would  not  be 
possible  in  any  other  land  or  under  different  conditions  of  gov 
ernment  and  political  progress.  Amid  the  crowd  of  emigrants 
who  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  present  century  turned  their 
backs  upon  home  and  birthplace  in  New  England  to  seek  their 
fortunes  in  the  growing  West  were  two  young  men,  born  in  the 
little  State  of  New  Hampshire,  who  both  finally  settled  in  the 
beautiful  city  of  Detroit,  which,  sitting  like  a  queen  on  the 
banks  of  its  great  highway,  has  for  so  many  years  commanded 
the  trade  and  traffic  of  the  Northwest.  Their  stern  New  Eng 
land  mother  had  thrown  off  each  hi  turn  as  the  northern  eagle 
soaring  from  her  eyrie  shakes  in  mid-air  her  frightened  fledg 
lings  from  her  back  to  try  for  themselves  their  new-grown  pin 
ions  in  the  upward  flight  and  dare  alone  the  splendor  and  the 
danger  of  the  sky.  The  elder  of  the  two  was  among  the  ear 
lier  settlers  of  the  northern  region,  a  soldier  in  its  defense,  and 
a  pioneer  in  its  development.  Reaching  at  an  early  period  con 
spicuous  oflQcial  position,  his  strong  character  and  great  abili- 


104 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  ROBESON  ON  THE 


ties  swayed  to  his  own  views  the  principles  and  the  actions  of 
the  people  among  whom  he  lived.  Bepresenting  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  the  great  State  of  Michigan,  he  was  for 
many  years  the  political  champion  and  leader  of  opinion  in  the 
Northwest. 

The  other,  whose  recent  death  is  the  occasion  of  these  cere 
monies,  leaving  at  a  later  period  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  car 
ried  with  him  to  his  adopted  State  the  same  inborn  qualities  of 
energy  and  strength  of  character,  enriched  by  the  same  intense 
love  of  his  country,  but  molded  in  a  different  school  of  political 
faith,  developing  into  different  ideas  of  political  policy,  govern 
ment,  and  progress.  The  one  was  the  veteran  champion  and 
representative  of  the  older  democracy;  the  other  soon  became 
a  leader  of  the  new  republicanism.  In  the  struggle  of  parties 
which  often  convulsed  the  State  they  were  ever  representative 
antagonists,  and  as  one  of  the  early  fruits  of  the  great  political 
revolution  which  swept  the  Northwest,  the  younger  was  elected 
to  the  seat  of  the  elder  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  Slates,  a 
position  which  he  held  until  a  very  recent  period,  keeping  in 
the  hands  of  these  two  sons  of  New  Hampshire,  almost  unbro 
ken  from  the  time  of  its  organization,  the  senatorial  power 
and  influence  of  the  great  State  of  Michigan. 

For  many  years  antagonists  in  political  strife,  rivals  for  po 
litical  office,  and  representatives  of  different  political  policy, 
the  great  peril  which  threatened  their  common  country  brought 
them  at  last  together,  and,  uniting  them  in  a  common  endeavor 
for  its  rescue  and  safety,  engendered  a  personal  friendship 
which  was  broken  only  by  the  death  of  the  elder;  and  to-day 
Lewis  Cass  and  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  sleep  almost  side  by 
side  beneath  the  soil  of  the  great  Commonwealth  which  they 
both  loved  so  well,  which  was  the  scene  of  their  political 
rivalry,  and  which  honored  each  in  his  turn  with  its  confidence 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      105 

and  highest  trust.  Their  graves,  like  those  in  the  old  ceme 
tery  at  Portland,  where  lie  face  to  face  the  commanders  of  the 
Enterprise  and  the  Boxer,  cover  indeed  the  remains  of  rival 
champions,  but  represent  now  quiet  after  strife,  equality  after 
rivalry,  and  the  utter  subjection  of  all  human  power  to  His 
will  "  whose  mercy  endureth  forever." 

The  Senate  of  which  Mr.  CHANDLER  became  a  member  was 
as  remarkable  as  any  which  has  been  known  in  the  history  of 
our  country.  The  principles  involved  in  its  contests  were  those 
upon  which  depended  the  future  character  and  direction  of  our 
Government  and  its  influence  for  all  time ;  and  the  men  to 
whom,  in  the  providence  of  God,  their  illustration  was  com 
mitted  were  worthy  of  their  high  trust. 

The  political  party  to  which  he  belonged  was  at  that  time 
greatly  in  the  minority  in  the  Senate,  and  many  of  its  members 
had,  like  himself,  been  chosen  for  the  qualities  which  mark  the 
courage  of  high  convictions  rather  than  for  official  or  govern 
mental  experience,  but  like  him  they  brought  to  the  contest 
energy,  activity,  and  constancy,  noble  impulses  of  duty,  the 
courage  of  lofty  purposes,  clear  conception  of  the  ends  to  be 
finally  reached,  and  a  fixed  determination  to  dare,  to  do,  and 
to  suffer  all  that  might  be  necessary  for  their  accomplishment. 

It  would  not  become  the  occasion  to  recount  the  many  strug 
gles,  trials,  and  triumphs  of  that  great  contest ;  it  is  sufficient 
now  to  say  that  Mr.  CHANDLER  brought  to  the  side  of  his 
party  the  most  valuable  and  decisive  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart.  Vigorous  and  energetic,  yet  thoughtful  and  astute; 
of  large  views,  yet  with  clear  conceptions ;  of  liberal  ideas, 
yet  with  fixed  principles;  of  high  aspirations,  yet  with  con 
centrated  purposes — these  were  qualities  born  on  New  Eng 
land  soil  indeed,  but  developed  on  broader  fields  and  amid  the 
struggle  of  more  elemental  forces.  A  heart  open  as  day  to 


14  c 


106         ADDRESS  OF  MB.  ROBESON  ON  THE 

every  manly  sympathy;  a  steadfastness  which  did  not  yield, 
and  a  faith  which  never  faltered ;  a  simplicity  which  told  of 
honor,  and  a  courage  which  was  born  of  freedom — these  were 
qualities  of  heart  which  belonged  to  the  man  himself,  which 
enshrined  him  in  the  love  of  friends,  and  took  hold  on  the 
affections  of  the  people. 

During  the  whole  period  of  our  acquaintance,  my  own  asso 
ciation  with  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  intimate,  close,  and  confiden 
tial.  Of  his  senatorial  career  I  need  not  speak  further;  his 
record  is  written  on  the  pages  of  his  country's  history.  But  of 
the  closer  and  more  confidential  relations  of  Cabinet  life  and 
duty  in  which  we  were  associated  together  I  may  bear  special 
testimony.  There,  as  everywhere,  he  exhibited  the  highest 
qualities  of  character  and  of  heart ;  he  was  at  once  liberal  to 
every  person,  just  to  every  interest,  and  constant  to  every 
duty ;  his  every  action  was  honor  and  all  his  endeavors  were 
for  the  right ;  and  each  day  he  grew  more  and  more  in  the  love 
and  in  the  respect  of  his  chief  and  of  his  associates. 

In  the  fullness  of  his  strength,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  influ 
ence,  in  the  richest  development  of  his  faculties,  clad  with  the 
regalia  of  a  nation's  confidence,  and  covered  with  love  as  with 
a  garment,  he  has  fallen  in  the  night,  and  the  scenes  which 
once  knew  him  so  well  will  know  him  no  more  forever.  The 
successes  to  which  he  contributed  will  endure  for  others, 
but  the  mind  enriched  and  developed,  the  enlightened  heart, 
and  the  elevated  spirit  which  achieved  them  are  lost  to  his 
country  and  his  friends  just  as,  equipped  and  trained  for 
severer  struggles,  the  veteran  turned  to  new  conquests.  Here 
we  must  pause ;  we  can  go  no  further.  This  is  the  "  be-all  and 
the  end-all  here";  beyond  is  "the  undiscovered  country,  from 
whose  bourn  no  traveler  returns";  but  here  is  the  moral  and 
a  lesson :  Life  is  far  too  short  to  realize  to  man  more  than  the 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OP  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.      107 

merest  possibilities  of  his  nature.  The  heart  is  full  of  aspira 
tions,  and  the  iniiid  of  possibilities  which  are  not,  which  can 
not  be,  realized  in  this  world.  At  each  step  which  we  take  for 
ward  we  see  nearer  and  clearer  the  far-off  goals,  toward  which 
the  spirit  aspires,  but  which  human  ambition  may  never  reach, 
but,  like  the  stars  which  shine  down  the  long  avenues  of 
heaven,  their  endless  line  of  ''lights  on  lights  beyond"  tells 
like  prophecy  the  immortal  destiny  of  man. 


Address  of  Mr.  BURROWS,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  Conscious  as  I  am  of  the  exalted  place  Sen 
ator  CHANDLER  held  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  whom  I  have 
the  honor  in  part  to  represent,  I  should  feel  that  I  had  disre 
garded  the  wishes  of  my  immedate  constituents  should  I  per 
mit  this  occasion  to  pass  without  attempting  to  give  expression 
to  their  high  appreciation  of  his  character  and  their  profound 
sense  of  irreparable  loss. 

I  am  not  apprehensive,  sir,  that  I  shall  expose  myself  to  the 
imputation  of  fulsome  eulogy  of  the  dead,  or  unjust  detraction 
from  the  merits  of  the  living,  by  declaring  that  no  citizen  of 
Michigan  stood  higher  in  the  public  regard,  or  could  by  his 
death  have  so  disturbed  the  public  repose,  as  the  distinguished 
Senator  whose  sudden  demise  has  given  occasion  for  this  solemn 
observance.  That  he  occupied  a  foremost  place  in  the  State's 
esteem  is  evidenced  by  the  prolonged  and  illustrious  service  to 
which  her  partiality  repeatedly  called  him ;  that  he  is  sincerely 
lamented  is  attested  by  the  manifestations  of  public  and  pri 
vate  grief  attending  his  imposing  obsequies. 

The  qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  thus  endeared  him  to 
the  people  of  Michigan  were  so  conspicuous  that  they  readily 


108  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   BURROWS  ON   THE 

suggest  themselves  to  every  one  familiar  with  his  public 
career,  for  the  prominent  and  distinguished  features  of  his 
character  were  so  pronounced  that  they  could  be  neither  dis 
guised  nor  misunderstood. 

Chiefest  among  these  was  his  unchallenged  honesty.  Hold 
ing,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  some  of  the  most  responsible 
positions  in  the  gift  of  his  State  and  the  nation,  whether  par 
ticipating  in  the  legislation  of  the  country  or  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  its  laws,  his  course  was  ever  marked  by  the  same 
unswerving  integrity.  Provoking,  as  he  did,  by  his  pro 
nounced  partisanship  the  fiercest  assaults  of  his  political  an 
tagonists,  yet  no  adversary  was  ever  bold  enough  to  attack 
his  official  integrity  or  impugn  his  personal  honor. 

Nor  would  he  brook  dishonesty  in  others.  It  is  said  that, 
when  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  becoming  satisfied  that  a  cer 
tain  bureau  in  that  department  needed  thorough  renovation, 
he  sent  for  the  head  of  the  division  and  directed  the  immedi 
ate  dismissal  of  twelve  of  bis  most  prominent  subordinates. 
The  chief  of  the  bureau  expostulated  with  the  Secretary  and 
finally  declared  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  transact  the 
business  of  his  department  without  their  assistance.  "  Very 
well,  sir,"  replied  the  Secretary,  "then  the  business  of  your 
department  will  be  suspended  j  for  unless  you  make  these 
removals  by  four  o'clock  this  afternoon,  that  branch  of  the 
public  service  will  be  closed."  It  is  needless  to  add  that 
the  orders  of  the  Secretary  were  immediately  executed  and 
the  subordinates  discharged. 

If  it  be  true  that  "  an  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of 
God,"  then  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  was  one  of  nature's  mas 
ter-pieces. 

"  He  never  sold  the  right  to  serve  the  hour," 
Or  paltered  with  eternal  truth  for  power. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHAR1AII    CIIANDLKU.       10!) 

Then,  again,  he  was  a  man  of  matchless  courage.  Positive 
in  his  convictions,  he  was  bold  in  their  advocacy.  His  course 
of  action  once  determined  upon,  supported  by  an  approving 
conscience,  no  fear  of  popular  disfavor  or  personal  discomfiture 
could  swerve  him  from  his  fixed  purpose.  No  matter  what  the 
emergency,  he  was  always  equal  to  it.  Where  others  doubted, 
he  was  confident ;  where  others  faltered,  he  was  immovable ; 
where  others  queried,  he  affirmed.  Whether  engaged  in  pre 
serving  the  nation's  life  or  sustaining  the  national  credit, 
whether  in  the  Senate  or  in  the  Cabinet,  he  was  the  same  fear 
less,  intrepid  leader.  There  was  no  error,  however  popular,  he 
would  not  assail — no  truth,  however  despised,  he  would  not 
champion.  As  illustrative  of  his  indomitable  courage  in  great 
emergencies,  it  is  related  of  him  that  immediately  after  the 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  when  the  Republic  seemed  tottering  to  its 
downfall,  he  called  upon  the  President  to  advise  with  him  in 
relation  to  the  exigencies  of  the  hour.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in 
despair,  and  met  Mr.  CHANDLER  with  the  exclamation :  "  The 
country  is  lost!  what  shall  we  do?"  "Do!"  responded  the 
stalwart  Senator,  "  call  immediately  for  three  hundred  thou 
sand  volunteers."  "  But  will  the  people  respond  F  questioned 
the  Executive.  "  Yes,  sir,  if  you  were  to  make  it  a  million." 
And  it  is  said  that  he  never  quit  the  executive  chamber  until 
he  bore  the  order  from  Mr.  Lincoln  to  Secretary  Stanton  direct 
ing  the  summons.  He  was  one  of  the  few  public  men  who,  in 
the  consideration  of  great  questions,  not  only  had  positive  con 
victions,  but  the  moral  courage  to  avow  them,  regardless  alike 
of  public  opinion  or  personal  consequences.  It  mattered  not 
how  popular  a  measure  might  be,  or  how  much  its  advocacy 
might  enhance  the  chances  of  party  success,  Senator  CHANDLER 
never  yielded  his  convictions  for  a  momentary  advantage.  It 
mattered  not  how  exalted  any  man  might  be  in  the  public  re- 


110 


ADDEESS   OF  MR.   HAWLEY   ON   THE 


gard,  if  Senator  CHANDLER  believed  him  unworthy  of  the  ad 
vancement  he  would  not  hesitate  to  assail  him.  And  he  never 
resorted  to  temporary  expedients  to  achieve  temporary  suc 
cess  or  allay  popular  clamor. 

Unpracticed  he  to  fawn  or  seek  for  power 
By  doctrines  fashioned  to  the  varying  hour. 

And,  finally,  he  was  faithful  to  every  public  duty  and  true 
to  his  friends.  Treachery  found.no  place  in  his  character.  He 
never  betrayed  a  public  trust  or  a  personal  friend. 

Fortunate  will  we  be  if  it  can  be  said  of  us  when  we  are 
gone,  as  it  can  be  truthfully  declared  of  him :  He  was  an  hon 
est  public  servant,  a  fearless  champion  of  the  right,  and  a 
faithful  friend. 


Address  of  Mr.  HAWLEY,  of  Connecticut. 

I  gladly  take  a  few  moments  to  manifest  my  sorrow  for 
the  death  of  Mr.  CHANDLEE,  and  my  high  respect  for  the 
many  pronounced  and  praiseworthy  elements  of  his  charac 
ter.  It  was  a  frank,  brave,  manly,  strong  nature.  Whatever 
he  loved  he  loved  indeed}  when  he  hated  at  all  he  blazed. 
When  he  enlisted  for  a  cause  he  gave  it  his  soul  and  mind  and 
body.  He  furnishes  an  eminent  example  among  a  multitude 
of  men  stalwart  in  all  things — physical,  mental,  and  moral — 
who  have  swarmed  westward  for  a  century  and  built  up  an 
empire.  He  carried  with  him  the  traditions  of  his  New  En 
gland  home.  His  force  and  good  judgment  bore  him  upward 
in  business ;  his  honesty  secured  him  abundant  trust  and  con 
fidence  ;  his  public  spirit  compelled  him  to  enter  public  life. 
He  rejoiced  in  the  inspirations  of  conflict,  and  had  a  righteous 
contempt  for  neutrals.  ll  Some  say  there  is  a  God ;  some  say 
there  is  no  God."  Mr.  CHANDLER  would  never  have  said, 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER   OF  ZACHAHIAH  CHANDLER.      Ill 

"the  truth  lies  between  the  two  extremes."  A  mail  once 
prominent  in  American  letters  and  politics,  who  failed  to 
secure  the  success  in  public  life  to  which  his  intellectual  abili 
ties  apparently  entitled  him,  described,  as  lessening  his  avail 
ability  for  political  leadership,  his  irresistible  tendency  to  see 
in  the  strongest  light  the  arguments  and  sentiments  of  his  op 
ponents,  and  to  permit  his  vigor  of  action  to  be  modified  ac 
cordingly.  Mr.  CHANDLER  never  suffered  through  any  such 
weakness.  He  was  never  in  danger  of  being  turned  into  a 
pillar  of  salt. 

Willing  enough  to  concede  that  his  opponents  might  be  sin 
cere,  he  would  rejoice  in  that  sincerity  as  giving  promise  of  a 
finer  battle.  It  would  never  have  occurred  to  him  that  it 
ought  to  save  them  from  defeat. 

His  roughness  and  readiness  provoked  criticism.  Men  more 
scholarly,  judicial,  deliberate,  and  many-sided,  and  by  reason 
thereof  often  less  valuable  in  times  of  stormy  action,  were  apt 
to  undervalue  Mr.  CHANDLER.  But  his  advice  and  judgment 
were  sound  in  the  startling  crisis  of  war,  and,  while  it  was  not 
a  surprise  to  those  who  really  knew  him,  it  was  a  great  satis 
faction  to  see  him  become  in  time  of  peace  a  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  pointed  to  as  a  model  of  integrity  and  vigor. 

His  opponents  made  a  common  mistake  in  deeming  the 
sledge-hammer  combatant  lacking  in  the  graces  of  friendship. 
He  hated  many  things;  I  do  not  think  he  hated  any  man. 
He  had  lived  through  enough  of  rude  conflict  in  private  and 
public  to  know  that  we  may  judge  opinions  and  principles 
by  the  light  we  have,  but  should  estimate  men  by  the  light 
they  have. 

All  the  time  he  lived  he  was  indeed  a  live  man.  And 
though  he  be  dead,  the  magnetism  of  his  nature  is  here  to 
day,  and  will  be  felt  for  generations. 


112          ADDRESS  OF  ME.  DUNNELL  ON  THE 


Address  of  Mr.  DUNNELL,  of  Minnesota. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  The  late  Senator  CHANDLER  attained  polit 
ical  eminence  and  secured  the  admiration  of  the  American 
people  because  he  had  and  exhibited  in  action  some  of  the  best 
traits  of  an  attractive  human  character.  He  had  integrity, 
honesty,  patriotism,  boldness,  and  moral  bravery.  These  qual 
ities  were  the  pillars  upon  which;  in  a  large  degree,  rested  Ms 
national  fame.  They  gave  him  success  in  each  great  theater 
of  his  life. 

When  his  remains  awaited  burial  in  the  city  of  Detroit,  his 
fellow-citizens,  in  large  numbers  and  irrespective  of  party,  in 
their  unanimously  adopted  resolutions,  made  conspicuous  these 
shining  characteristics.  His  honesty,  his  uprightness,  his  un- 
corruptedness  in  the  transactions  of  life  were  in  daily  play,  and 
came  to  be  the  universally  conceded  qualities  of  the  man. 

This  animating  and  controlling  principle  greatly  augmented, 
without  doubt,  the  force  of  those  other  traits  to  which  refer 
ence  has  been,  made.  He  did  not  yield  to  the  temptations 
which  come  to  men  willing  to  acquire  gain  and  place  by  the 
use  of  deceptive  and  otherwise  unworthy  methods.  As  he 
hated  fraud,  he  demanded  a  clean  record,  a  full  exposure  of 
all  the  motives  which  shaped  and  impelled  the  actions  of  men. 
His  denunciations  of  men  who  in  action  were  not  what  their 
professions  would  make  them,  were  signally  severe.  For  such 
men,  he  had  no  excuses.  If  he  was  intolerant,  his  honesty 
made  him  so.  There  was  no  sham  in  this  great  distinguishing 
element  in  his  character.  It  was  firmly  rooted  and  unceas 
ingly  operative.  It  did  not  leave  him  when  he  passed  from 
private  into  public  life.  During  his  eighteen  years  of  service 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  much  of  it  opening  paths 
to  personal  profit,  which  touched  and  hurt  other  men,  he  made 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLER.      113 

such  a  record  for  honesty,  in  its  largest  signification,  that  it 
left  in  the  background  and  to  be  forgotten  forever  whatever  of 
faults,  if  any,  may  have  touched  his  personal  character. 

After  a  short  retirement  from  the  Senate,  he  became  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Interior.  He  was  exempt  from  assaults  at  no 
period  in  his  political  career.  They  were  renewed  when  he 
returned  to  Washington  to  assume  the  duties  of  an  executive 
officer  and  take  his  place  in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Grant. 
These  attacks,  however,  never  reached  his  integrity.  If  they 
had  been  made  with  that  view,  he  could  have  used  the  words 
of  Shakespeare  and  said : 

There  is  no  terror  in  your  threats : 
For  I  am  arm'cl  so  strong  in  honesty, 
That  they  pass  by  me  as  the  idle  wind, 
Which  I  respect  not. 

If  the  history  of  the  lamented  Senator  be  written,  no  pages  in 
it  will  be  brighter  or  more  illustrative  of  the  man  than  those 
which  shall  set  forth  the  thorough  and  needed  reforms  which 
he  wrought  in  the  Department  of  the  Government  over  which 
he  presided.  Civil  service  with  him  had  an  honest  meaning. 
It  must  have  its  illustration  in  the  full  labor  of  men  loyal  to 
the  Government  and  competent  to  do  the  work  assigned  them. 
He  hated  civil  service  rules,  because  in  their  practical  opera 
tion  they  were  too  often  a  cheat.  Not  long  had  he  served  in 
this  new  capacity  before  there  came  from  every  quarter  the 
free  and  hearty  acknowledgment  that  he  possessed  executive 
and  administrative  abilities  of  a  high  order. 

The  congressional  legislation  of  1854  brought  the  subject  of 
our  eulogies  from  his  comparative  obscurity  and  led  the  way  to 
his  long  and  eventful  public  career.  The  republican  party 
was  born  of  that  legislation.  In  the  formation  of  the  party  he 
took  an  early  and  conspicuous  part.  In  after  years,  and  indeed 


15  0 


114         ADDRESS  OF  MR.  DUNNELL  ON  THE 

till  his  death,  he  was  in  it  a  wise  and  sagacious  adviser  and 
supporter.  His  consummate  ability  in  party  organization  kept 
him  for  many  years  at  the  head  of  the  national  republican 
committee. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise  he  regarded  as  a 
blow  aimed  at  the  life  of  the  nation.  This  act  aroused  into 
the  intensest  activity  his  sublime  love  of  the  Union.  From 
this  hour  his  voice  was  heard.  The  directness  and  severity 
with  which  he  spoke  of  measures  which  he  deemed  hostile  to 
the  public  good  may  be  charged  to  his  ardent  love  of  country. 
He  was  an  extreme  partisan  because  he  sincerely  believed  his 
party  alone  could  save  and  best  serve  the  Eepublic.  He  did 
not  think  it  possible  to  save  it  by  any  other  political  organiza 
tion  or  agency.  His  uncompromising  devotion  to  the  Union 
would  not  suffer  him  to  consider  for  an  hour  any  terms  of 
compromise  or  conciliation.  The  sincerity  and  honesty  of  his 
motives  were  never  questioned  by  those  who  knew  him.  His 
vast  labors  for  the  Government  during  the  war,  and  the  sol 
diers  who  were  standing  against  its  enemies,  were  inspired 
by  a  deep  and  generous  patriotism.  No  man  will  do  him  jus 
tice  who  does  not  credit  to  it  all  he  did  and  sacrificed  for  it 
when  its  life  was  in  peril.  His  words  were  indeed  barbed,  but 
his  nature  would  not  suffer  the  coinage  of  any  other. 

I  have  said,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  one  of  the  marked  traits  in 
the  Senator's  character  was  his  boldness.  His  honesty  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  evade  or  conceal.  He  did  not  hesitate 
at  any  time  or  in  any  place  to  utter  his  convictions  or  use 
right  names.  He  spoke  as  he  felt.  Words  with  him  were  put 
to  their  legitimate  use.  Frankness  marked  the  man  and  was 
the  offspring  of  his  honesty.  He  said  what  he  thought  the 
occasion  required.  It  would  not  have  been  possible  for  him 
to  do  less  and  be  himself.  He  was  rugged  in  conviction  and 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLER.      115 

in  utterance.  His  speeches  in  the  Senate  during  the  extra 
session  of  last  year  were  charged  with  the  severest  denuncia 
tions,  for  they  came  of  the  views  which  he  had  entertained 
concerning  the  war  and  its  chief  actors.  He  could  not  have 
made  them  otherwise. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  Senator,  though  sincere,  was  ex 
treme  and  daring,  yet  such  a  man  is  safer  in  the  councils  of  a 
nation  than  a  timid  man,  for  the  latter  is  quite  certain  to  sur 
render  his  whole  cause  WHEN  some  crisis  is  reached  and  ichen 
the  highest  order  of  courage  is  the  stern  necessity  of  the  hour. 
The  brave  man  will  never  deceive  either  friend  or  foe. 

The  last  speeches  of  Senator  CHANDLER  in  the  Senate 
brought  him  invitations  to  address  the  people  in  many  States 
of  the  Union.  He  spoke  many  times  in  Ohio,  Maine,  Massa 
chusetts  New  York,  Wisconsin,  and  Illinois  during  the  months 
of  August,  September,  and  October.  Vast  crowds  greeted 
him  wherever  he  spoke.  The  masses  loved  his  directness  of 
speech.  They  honored  him  for  what  he  was  and  what  he  said. 
Faneuil  Hall  resounded  with  the  loud  and  long  applause 
which  followed  his  words.  His  reception  in  every  place  was 
an  ovation. 

Turning  his  face  homeward,  he  reached  the  city  of  Chicago 
on  the  31st  of  October.  Here,  when  the  echoes  of  his  last 
eloquent  appeal  to  the  thousands  who  here  so  enthusiastic 
ally  heard  him,  had  scarcely  died  away,  the  spirit  of  the  bold 
Senator,  the  incorruptible  statesman  and  the  earnest  patriot, 
took  its  flight.  Here  ended  a  life  grandly  useful  and  heroic. 
This  generation  cannot  forget  its  greatness,  and  coming  gen 
erations  will  admire  its  singular  devotion  to  the  Republic. 


116  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   STONE   ON  THE 


Address  of  Mr.  STONE,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  In  the  death  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  a 
great  political  party  has  lost  one  of  its  recognized  leaders, 
and  the  nation  one  of  her  most  distinguished  sons.  His  life 
and  acts  have  been  interwoven  with  the  history  and  progress 
of  the  State  of  Michigan  and  of  this  nation  during  the  last 
twenty-five  years. 

The  life  of  Senator  CHANDLER  adds  another  name  to  that 
long  list  of  men  in  this  country  who,  by  dint  of  persevering 
application  and  energy,  have  raised  themselves  from  the 
lower  ranks  of  industry  to  eminent  positions  of  usefulness 
and  influence  in  the  nation.  The  presidential  chair  and  the 
Halls  of  Congress  have  contained  many  such  self-raised 
men — fitting  representatives  of  the  industrial  character  of 
the  American  people — and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  our  institu 
tions  that  such  men  have  received  due  recognition  and  honor 
at  the  hands  of  the  people. 

Mr.  CHANDLER'S  education  was  limited  to  that  of  the  com 
mon  schools  and  an  academy  of  his  native  State,  New  Hamp 
shire. 

In  1833,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  he  removed  to  the  city 
of  Detroit,  and  soon  after  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business, 
in  which  he  was  very  successful. 

His  public  life  began  by  his  election  to  the  oflice  of  mayor 
of  his  adopted  city  in  the  year  1851.  He  was  in  1852  brought 
prominently  before  the  people  of  Michigan  as  the  whig  candi 
date  for  governor.  Although  the  contest  was  a  hopeless  one 
he  made  a  spirited  and  energetic  canvass,  and  established  a 
prestige  in  the  State  which  he  ever  afterward  enjoyed.  From 
this  time  to  the  day  of  his  death  Mr.  CHANDLER  took  an 
active  interest  in  the  politics  of  his  adopted  State  and  the 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACIIARIAH   CHANDLER.      117 

nation.  In  the  winter  of  1856-'57  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  to  succeed  Lewis  Cass,  being  the  first 
republican  Senator  from  Michigan. 

In  the  Senate  he  took  hold  of  his  work  with  the  same 
energy  and  directness  that  had  characterized  him  as  a  suc 
cessful  merchant  and  business  man.  He  saw  the  coming 
greatness  of  the  Northwest  and  devoted  himself  chiefly  to 
the  commerce  and  industries  of  the  lake  region,  becoming  so 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  subject  that  he  was  soon  con 
sidered  an  authority  on  all  questions  touching  the  interests  or 
development  of  that  part  of  the  country. 

He  especially  demanded  for  the  Northwest  a  place  on  the 
Committee  on  Commerce  in  the  Senate,  a  committee  of  which 
he  was  afterward  chairman  for  so  many  years.  It  is  said  that 
the  first  bill  he  ever  presented  was  one  to  improve  the  Saint 
Clair  Flats  by  deepening  the  channel  over  them.  This  bill, 
and  his  next  to  deepen  Saint  Mary's  Kiver,  he  pushed  with 
that  untiring  energy  which  marked  his  course  afterward  in 
such  matters.  During  the  debate  in  the  Senate  on  the  Saint 
Clair  bill  Mr.  CHANDLER  said,  "  I  want  to  see  who  is  friendly 
to  the  great  Northwest  and  who  is  not,  for  we  are  about 
making  our  last  prayer  here.  The  time  is  not  far  distant 
when,  instead  of  coming  here  and  begging  for  our  rights,  we 
shall  extend  our  hands  and  take  the  blessing.  After  1860  we 
shall  not  be  here  as  beggars." 

Time  will  not  permit  us  on  this  occasion  to  follow  him 
minutely  in  his  successful  career  in  the  Senate.  Long  iden 
tified  with  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  Michigan,  no  man 
has  accomplished  more  for  her  material  interests  than  Mr. 
CHANDLER.  Outside  of  political  and  party  lines  he  has  been 
of  great  service  to  the  State,  and  his  death  is  there  considered 
a  great  calamity.  He  will  fill  an  honorable  page  in  the  history 


118  ADDRESS   OF   MR.   STONE   ON   THE 

of  his  country's  struggles  and  triumph  over  human  slavery. 
He  hated  oppression  wherever  he  found  it,  and  counted  no 
consequence  in  denouncing  the  oppressor. 

Senator  CHANDLER  was  a  man  of  decided  convictions  and 
utterances.  His  boldness  and  frankness  of  speech  often  led 
to  a  misconception  of  his  character,  and  made  the  impression 
that  he  was  tyrannical  and  vindictive.  His  nature  was  emi 
nently  genial,  tender,  and  sympathetic.  He  felt  keenly  the 
wrongs  of  others,  and  was  never  more  outspoken  than  when 
defending  the  cause  of  the  weak  and  oppressed. 

Pending  the  rebellion,  he  was  loyal,  hopeful,  helpful,  and  a 
military  division  in  himself,  to  help  Lincoln,  Grant,  and  Stan- 
ton.  He  was  devoted  to  the  Union  in  its  hour  of  peril.  His 
earnest,  persevering  labors  amid  the  darkest  days  of  its  trial 
and  difficulty,  his  courage  and  steadfastness  in  the  pursuit  of 
his  noble  aims  and  purposes  in  the  interest  of  the  nation,  were 
no  less  heroic  of  their  kind  than  the  bravery  and  devotion  of 
the  soldier  whose  duty  and  whose  pride  it  was  heroically  to 
defend  it  upon  the  battle-field.  No  human  being  can  accu 
rately  say  how  much  of  our  final  victory  during  war  and  re 
construction  was  vitally  and  indisputably  ministered  by  ZACH- 
ARIAH  CHANDLER.  He  was  absolutely  invincible  and  fearless. 
I  wish  to  pay  a  brief  tribute  to  the  fearless  independence  of  his 
character,  to  h.is  integrity,  his  honest  adherence  to  the  principles 
which  he  believed  to  be  right,  to  the  rugged  force  of  his  talents, 
all  of  which  made  him  an  important  element  in  the  affairs  of 
the  nation  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Few  men  in 
this  country  ever  wielded  a  stronger  political  influence  than 
Senator  CHANDLER.  He  was  a  man  of  firm  convictions,  and, 
though  an  ardent  partisan,  was  just.  His  character  was  unim 
peachable.  Throughout  his  course  of  public  life  not  even  his 
bitterest  opponents  ever  had  aught  to  say  against  his  honesty. 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      119 

Few  men  have  taken  such  a  firm,  deep  hold  on  the  confi 
dence  and  regard  of  the  country.  His  sturdy  patriotism  and 
his  uncompromising  loyalty  carried  and  captivated  the  popu 
lar  heart.  He  had  something  in  his  composition  that  com 
pelled  respect  and  confidence  from  the  people.  One  of  Napo 
leon's  favorite  maxims  was,  "The  truest  wisdom  is  a  resolute 
determination.77  If  it  is  a  blessing  to  be  possessed  of  a  stout 
heart,  then  Senator  CHANDLER  was  eminently  blessed.  The 
people  of  Michigan,  and  all  who  knew  him,  had  unbounded 
confidence  in  the  will-power  and  energy  of  "  Old  Zach,"  as  he 
was  familiarly  called  at  home.  I  believe  it  is  true  that  it  is 
not  the  men  of  genius  who  move  the  world,  and  take  the  lead 
in  it,  but  men  of  steadfastness  and  invincible  determination. 

Mr.  CHANDLER  was  strong  with  the  people  because  he  was 
conspicuously  one  of  the  people,  moved  by  their  honest  im 
pulses,  filled  with  their  strong  sense,  and  sharing  their  earnest 
convictions.  There  was  no  pretense  or  false  show  about  him. 
He  was  brave,  true,  manly,  square,  and  direct,  and  was  never 
afraid  to  call  things  by  their  right  names.  He  made  no  claim 
to  polish  or  the  art  of  rhetoric.  He  was  a  strong  man,  rather 
than  a  scholarly  one;  a  man  of  great  common  sense;  a  prac 
tical  rather  than  a  brilliant  statesman.  His  practical  sagac 
ity,  his  resolute  will,  and  great  courage  made  him  a  greater 
force  than  many  of  finer  polish  and  larger  acquirements.  He 
was  a  natural  leader,  and  no  man  in  our  history  as  a  State 
ever  had  a  more  faithful  following.  He  leaves  a  gap  which  it 
will  be  difficult  to  fill.  Upon  the  nation  which  honored  him, 
and  the  State  which  loved  him,  the  news  of  his  death  fell  with 
great  suddenness  and  the  force  of  an  awful  shock.  But  he 
could  not  have  chosen  a  better  time  to  die  had  he  been  given 
the  power  of  choice,  for  he  went  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame  and 
usefulness — in  the  midst  of  activity  and  labor,  and  with  the 


120  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   KEIFER   ON   THE 

harness  on.  His  last  public  utterances  were  for  an  honest 
government  and  an  undivided  nation. 

A  widespread  and  public  sorrow  on  the  announcement  of 
his  death  attested  the  profound  sense  of  the  loss  which  the 
State  of  Michigan  and  the  whole  country  sustained.  Former 
political  animosities  were  forgotten,  and  all,  without  distinc 
tion  of  politics,  creed,  or  nativity,  seemed  to  feel  that  the  State 
and  nation  had  lost  a  strong  pillar. 

Let  us  imitate  his  virtues  and  cherish  his  memory. 


Address  of  Mr.  KEIFER,  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  SPTCATTRR:  If  we  were  to  call  the  roll  of  the  dead  who 
have  fallen  from  the  ranks  of  those  who  have  mustered  in  this 
our  country's  Capitol,  we  should  hear  the  names  of  many 
historic  souls  familiar  to  the  ears  of  the  people  of  all  lands, 
and  not  among  the  least  of  those  would  be  found  the  name 
of  him  on  whose  account  we  meet  here  to-day  to  pay  a  last 
tribute  of  respect. 

My  personal  relations  with  the  late  Senator  ZACHARIAH 
CHANDLER  were  limited  to  occasional  and  incidental  meetings 
during  the  last  two  years  of  his  life.  To  those  who  knew  him 
well  and  intimately  during  the  many  years  of  his  long,  event 
ful,  and  useful  life  it  must  be  left  to  speak  of  him  in  his  social 
and  family  relations.  But  his  public  life  and  acts  belong  to 
the  whole  country;  and  in  so  far  as  he  was  the  instrument 
of  good  to  mankind ;  in  so  far  as  his  life  was  exemplary  and 
worthy  of  imitation ;  in  so  far  as  he  was  a  type  of  American 
manhood  and  an  honor  to  his  country  and  race,  he  belongs  to 
history. 

While  his  life  and  public  services  may  not  have  been  sin- 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAII   CHANDLER.      121 

gularly  grand,  they  were  transcendeutly  great.  It  has  often 
been  said,  with  a  view  of  detracting  from  individual  greatness, 
that  men  only  become  great  because  they  have  lived  and  been 
called  on  to  grapple  with  great  events.  It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  great  occasions  develop  great  intellects  and  great  men. 
It  is  also  true  that  men  who  have  high  and  responsible  public 
duties  cast  on  them,  as  a  rule  meet  and  discharge  them,  often 
to  the  surprise  of  their  friends,  with  singular  faithfulness  and 
ability.  But  in  the  long  and  eventful  period  in  our  country's 
history  through  which  the  lamented  Senator  lived  many  strong 
men  faltered,  hesitated,  and  fell. 

The  differences  in  men  are  rarely  to  be  measured  by  their 
difference  in  natural  and  purely  intellectual  endowments; 
they  consist  more  commonly  in  the  differences  in  zeal,  energy 
— physical  energy— perseverance,  devotion  to  duty,  to  friends 
and  country,  pride  of  success,  love  of  honor,  self-respect,  high 
resolve,  dauntless  spirit,  and,  above  all,  a  desire  to  do  good. 
Senator  CHANDLER  possessed  most  if  not  all  of  these  endow 
ments,  and  more  largely  than  most  of  the  great  and  good  men 
of  the  world. 

If  I  were  compelled  to  name  the  one  leading  characteristic 
which  he  was  endowed  with  in  a  higher  degree  than  another, 
and  which  ruled  him  in  private  and  public  affairs  throughout 
his  useful  life,  I  should  say  it  was  heroism.  Though  not  a 
warrior  in  the  period  of  war,  his  whole  life  was  a  heroic  one. 
Heroes  are  not  found  alone  in  the  fiery  furnace  of  war ;  they 
are  common  to  the  paths  of  peace.  He  possessed  true  heroism, 
"the  self-devotion  of  genius  manifesting  itself  in  action."  His 
was  not  only  of  that  kind  of  heroism  denoting  fearlessness  of 
danger,  passive  courage,  ability  to  bear  up  under  trials  amid 
dangers  and  sufferings ;  nor  was  it  only  that  fortitude,  brav 
ery,  and  valor  which  is  essential  to  those  who  go  forth  to  con- 


1G  c 


122  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   KEIFER   ON  THE 

flicts  with  living  opponents  in  personal  mortal  combat  as 
duelists  or  in  battle ;  it  was  made  up  of  that  intrepidity  and 
courage  which  shrinks  not  in  the  presence  of  appalling  dan 
gers.  Senator  CHANDLER  was  unpretentious,  and  as  a  hus 
band,  father,  and  friend  was  kind,  patronizing,  and  gentle ; 
but  when  stormy  times  came  his  brow  seemed  to  darken,  and 
that  great  body  of  his,  which  appeared  to  the  beholder  to  be 
one  of  the  motive  forces  of  creation,  strode  fearlessly  to  the 
front,  and  there  by  common  consent  held  sway  until  all  danger 
was  passed. 

Many  courageous  men,  not  truly  heroic,  falter  and  fail  to 
enter  the  lists  when  a  conflict  is  imminent.  Not  so  the  de 
ceased  Senator.  He  was  a  leader  when  the  times  or  occasions 
demanded  true  valor.  It  is  in  the  lead  where  men  fall  or  are 
sacrificed.  The  leaders  in  charging  a  foe  are  the  most  con 
spicuous  marks,  and  they  are  the  first  to  receive  the  manly 
fire  of  bold  enemies  and  often  the  cowardly  arrows  of  hiding 
foes  in  the  rear,  not  uofrequently  springing  from  the  bow  of 
envy  or  jealousy. 

He  escaped  in  a  singular  degree,  and  died  in  old  age  with 
his  armor  on.  In  a  successful  civil  as  in  a  successful  military 
life — and  in  the  eyes  of  an  often  undiscriminating  public  suc 
cess  in  either  is  the  only  test  of  true  greatness — it  is  easier  to 
be  led  to  scenes  where  honor  and  glory  are  won  than  to  be  one 
of  the  few  who  lead  there. 

In  the  bloody  conflicts  of  war  the  percentage  of  those  who 
cannot,  if  well  commanded,  meet  the  actual  conflict  of  battle 
with  a  good  show  of  courage  is  very  small  indeed,  yet  the 
large  mass  of  men  are  physical  cowards.  Mr.  CHANDLER  had 
no  element  of  cowardice  in  him.  He  was  always  a  natural 
leader. 

As  a  business  man  he  sought  out  a  comparatively  new  State 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      123 

and  attained  success  by  foresight,  energy,  and  enterprise. 
He  left  a  large  fortune.  This  same  foresight,  energy,  and 
enterprise  he  carried  with  him  throughout  his  public  life.  He 
was  devoted  to  his  friends  and  magnanimous  to  his  foes,  but 
not  to  the  latter  until  he  was  sure  they  were  conquered. 

As  a  political  leader  he  was  known  to  be  a  violent  partisan. 
This  came  from  his  having  no  half-way  convictions  of  duty 
and  right.  When  he  had  work  to  do  he  struck  heavy  blows. 
He  did  not  lightly  tap  a  nail  on  the  head  to  start  it  on  its 
course,  but  drove  it  home  at  a  single  blow.  He  was  said  to 
be  uncompromising  in  his  character.  This  was  unjust  to  him, 
save  in  all  matters  where  his  country  or  principle  was  involved. 
He  was  honest,  and  integrity  in  private  and  public  affairs  was 
a  pole-star  for  his  guidance.  He  may  have  erred,  and  doubt 
less  did,  in  many  things.  It  is  only  human  to  err.  His  impet 
uous  and  fiery  nature  may  have  sometimes  caused  him  to  go 
astray,  but  he  was  willing  to  make  amends  for  any  wrong 
he  had  done  to  another  when  in  his  power. 

Like  all  positive  men  who  come  prominently  upon  the  stage 
of  life,  he  had  not  friends  alone,  but  violent  enemies.  But 
like  a  giant  oak  that  withstands  the  tornadoes  as  well  as  the 
gentler  winds  for  a  century,  and  grows  stronger  and  firmer  in 
its  fiber,  Senator  CHANDLER  grew  in  mental  and  moral  stature 
by  reason  of  the  violence  of  his  foes.  He,  like  the  oak,  could 
not  have  flourished  alone  in  the  sunshine  of  life.  He  needed, 
if  he  did  not  deserve,  its  stormy  days  to  prepare  him  for  his 
high  destiny.  It  has  been  said  by  another  who  had  to  bear 
more  than  seemed  to  be  his  share  of  violent  opposition,  "  that 
he  could  as  little  afford  to  spare  his  enemies  as  his  friends." 
They  fitted  and  qualified  him  for  better  and  nobler  duties. 
Mr.  CHANDLER'S  body  and  mind  were  alike  of  the  rugged,  not 
to  say  rough,  cast. 


124  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   KEIFER  ON   THE 

His  light,  though  not  such  as  would  be  called  in  high  lit 
erary  circles  brilliant,  yet  it  burned  fiercely,  reaching  on  occa 
sions  a  white  heat,  in  the  presence  of  which  his  opponents 
withered.  In  debate  he  was  fearlessly  outspoken.  He  could 
take  as  well  as  give  herculean  blows.  Better  men  may  have 
lived  than  plain  old  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  but  none  ex 
celled  him  in  love  of  country  or  of  his  fellow-men.  For  sub 
terfuge  and  dodging  he  had  a  brave  man's  scorn.  He  always 
spoke  his  mind  and  acted  boldly  up  to  his  convictions.  He 
was  for  war  when  peace  no  longer  seemed  possible.  As  early 
as  1860  he  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  "  a  little  blood-letting 
would  be  good  for  the  body  politic."  He  was  then  for  war, 
and  in  the  national  halls  of  legislation  he  gave  his  voice  and 
votes  for  its  rigorous  prosecution. 

He  believed  in  the  fiat  of  the  emancipation  which  made 
plain  Abe  Lincoln's  name  immortal.  It  has  been  said  that  he 
was  indiscreet,  boisterous,  and  headstrong.  So  far  as  this 
may  have  been  true  it  was  because  he  had  in  great  affairs 
absolutely  no  nonsense  about  him.  As  a  political  enemy  of 
his  has  said,  "  He  went  straight  for  the  thing  in  sight,  and 
generally  came  off  with  it." 

His  warm  and  generous  nature  would  not  allow  him  to  be 
tray  a  friend  or  thrust  an  enemy  in  the  back.  If  throughout 
his  whole  career  his  life  was  not  one  in  all  respects  to  be  imi 
tated  by  the  young  men  of  the  country,  it  cannot  be  said  that 
he  corrupted  them. 

It  was  my  fortune  to  meet  him  for  a  day  near  the  close  of 
his  life.  He  was  then  on  duty  for  a  cause  in  which  his  heart 
and  soul  were  enlisted,  and  in  that  cause  he  died.  He  had 
then  entered  upon  his  last  campaign.  It  was  bounded  by  no 
State  lines.  He  addressed  the  people  in  Ohio  on  the  political 
issues  which  he  deemed  vital  to  them ;  he  flew  from  place  to 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.        125 

place  rapidly,  and  was  gone,  and  the  "  talking  lightning "  told 
us  he  was  in  the  distant  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  thunder 
ing  his  plain  but  convincing  speech  in  Faneuil  Hall  to  the 
learned  men  of  Boston.  We  heard  of  him  elsewhere  in  that 
State  and  in  the  State  of  New  York;  then  came  the  news  that 
he  was  in  the  far  Northwest — the  State  of  Wisconsin — pouring 
livid,  convincing  arguments  out  to  our  people.  The  morning 
papers  announced  that  he  was  to  address  the  assembled  multi 
tudes  in  that  magic,  wondrous  city  of  Chicago  on  the  night  of 
October  31,  1879. 

The  early  papers  on  the  next  day  gave  us  his  speech,  but 
with  it  came  the  startling  announcement — ZACH.  CHANDLER 
is  dead !  Strong  men  and  women  mourned.  His  friends  and 
foes  stood  dazed  in  the  presence  of  the  sad  tidings.  They  did 
not  know  how  to  contemplate  him  from  the  stand-point  of 
death.  He  died  as  a  hero  might  wish  to  die — like  a  plumed 
knight  "  booted  and  spurred."  It  is  fitting  that  here  in  these 
halls  that  knew  him  so  long  we  should  pay  him  a  last  tribute 
and  shed  copious  tears  to  his  memory.  As  we  contemplate 
him  dead — in  his  final  chamber  of  repose — in  the  poet's  lan 
guage  we  may  truthfully  say : 

Here  lurks  no  treason,  here  no  envy  swells, 

Here  grow  no  damned  grudges  ;  here  are  no  storms, 

No  noise  ;  but  silence  and  eternal  sleep. 


Address  of  Mr.  CONGER,  of  Michigan. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  The  name  and  fame  of  ZACHARIAH  CHAN 
DLER,  of  Michigan,  needs  no  heralding  in  this  House,  in  this 
Congress,  in  this  nation.  None  is  more  familiar  to  the  Ameri 
can  people ;  none  ever  more  honored  by  the  citizens  of  his  own 
State. 


126         ADDRESS  DF  MR.  CONGER  ON  THE 

Those  of  us  who  speak  of  him  to-day  bring  our  loving 
though  mournful  tribute  to  his  memory  as  we  pay  the  last 
official  honors  to  one  who  served  so  long  and  so  well  in  the 
Congress  of  the  nation. 

I  may  not  here  recall  the  long  years  of  my  personal  friend 
ship  and  regard,  nor  shall  I  venture  to  give  expression  to  the 
emotions  which  crowd  upon  me  as  I  remember  the  obligations 
of  friendship,  of  kindness  and  encouragement  which  have  as 
sisted  my  public  labors  and  been  so  pleasant  in  my  private 
life. 

Nor  do  I  design  to  give  even  a  sketch  of  the  private  or 
public  life  of  the  distinguished  statesman  and  patriot  whose 
untimely  death  we  deplore. 

Others,  here  and  elsewhere,  will  better  perform  that  sacred 
duty,  and  gather  together  the  abundant  material  furnished  by 
three-score  years  of  an  eventful  life  to  instruct,  enlighten,  and 
gratify  the  people  whom  he  served  so  long  and  so  well. 

If  I  am  permitted  to  refer  to  some  scenes  and  events  of  his 
life,  not  so  likely  to  be  mentioned  by  others — to  allude  to  some 
remembrances  of  circumstances  which  he  himself  in  private 
conversation  has  spoken  of  as  influencing  his  life  and  forming 
his  character,  I  shall  perhaps  furnish  some  little  aid  to  those 
who  desire  to  know  the  peculiarities  of  his  life  and  analyze 
the  motives  of  his  action. 

CHANDLER  was  born  December  10, 1813,  in  the  time  of  our 
second  national  struggle,  and  the  earliest  impression  of  his 
childhood  and  the  first  lessons  around  the  New  England  fire 
side  were  colored  by  the  intense  patriotism  which  frontier  life 
and  border  warfare  had  imparted  to  those  who  had  been  alike 
ready  to  fight  the  other  States  in  behalf  of  the  Hampshire 
grants,  and  the  rest  of  the  world  in  behalf  of  the  rights  of  the 
nation. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      127 

At  the  age  of  twenty  he  left  the  granite  hills  and  the  beau 
tiful  valleys  of  his  native  State  to  find  a  field  of  labor  and  the 
chances  of  fortune  in  the  then  far  West.  He  brought  little 
with  him  but  energy,  resolution,  and  that  Puritan  integrity 
natural  to  his  race  and  unsullied  through  his  life. 

In  the  first  flush  of  youth,  hopeful,  ambitious,  undisciplined, 
he  left  the  land  of  steady  habits,  settled  customs,  and  a  homo 
geneous  people,  to  dwell  in  a  region  and  among  a  people  as 
unlike  his  own  as  could  be  found  on  the  continent. 

Michigan  from  1612  to  1760  had  been  a  part  of  New  France, 
ruled,  under  French  laws,  by  French  governors,  and  in  all  re 
spects  a  French  people;  from  1760  till  1787  under  English 
governors  and  English  laws ;  and  till  1835  under  various  ter 
ritorial  governments. 

In  1833  the  whole  population,  French,  English,  and  Ameri 
can,  was  about  sixty  thousand,  and  Detroit,  the  chief  city  and 
capital,  less  than  ten  thousand.  To  such  a  territory  and  city 
in  1833,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years,  came  ZACHARIAH  CHAN 
DLER  to  dwell  among  that  mixed  people  thenceforward  while 
he  should  live  on  earth. 

I  should  love  to  linger  over  this  transition  period  of  his  life, 
among  the  scenes  and  incidents  and  personages  and  events 
that  molded  and  fashioned  that  tall,  awkward,  wondering,  res 
olute  White  Mountain  boy — then  and  before  and  afterward  and 
always  called  Zach — into  the  merchant  prince,  the  rich  capi 
talist,  the  shrewd  politician,  the  successful  statesman,  the  un 
swerving  patriot,  and,  better  and  nobler  than  all,  the  fearless 
advocate  and  bold  defender  of  all  the  free  institutions  of  his 
native  land  and  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  all  the  dwellers 
therein. 

I  would  be  gratified  if  I  might  embody  in  this  grateful  trib 
ute  to  the  memory  of  a  friend  with  whom  I  have  been  familiar 


128          ADDRESS  OF  MR.  CONGER  ON  THE 

for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  some  record  of  his  hopes 
and  ambitions,  his  thoughts  and  reflections,  his  plans  and 
struggles,  from  the  hour  when  he  stood  a  stranger  in  the  old- 
fashioned  City  of  the  Straits  till  that  evening  when,  amid  the 
shouts  and  applause  of  many  thousand  citizens  of  a  wonderful 
city  beyond  the  lakes,  unnamed  and  unknown  in  those  days 
of  his  early  manhood,  he  retired  weary  and  secretly  stricken 
to  his  chamber,  and  when,  alone — 

Nor  wife,  nor  child, 
Nor  one  of  all  his  myriad  friends, 
To  bid  his  parting  soul  farewell, 

his  great  spirit  quit  the  familiar  scenes  of  earth,  and  through 
the  upper  air,  still  vibrating  with  the  applause  of  those  who 
had  just  listened  to  his  last  thrilling  words,  sought  rest  in  the 
unknown  realms  of  immortal  life ! 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  have  all  an  inward  consciousness  that 
"time  and  place  and  circumstance"  are  but  the  common  names 
of  those  mysterious  powers  and  influences  and  agencies  that 
rule  within  and  around  us,  to  mold  and  fashion  our  mortal 
life;  that,  under  the  Divine  economy,  our  nature,  ever  strug 
gling  with  powers  and  principalities,  with  things  seen  and 
unseen,  with  right  and  wrong,  with  truth  and  error,  with  jus 
tice  and  oppression,  is  constantly  and  imperceptibly  changed 
and  fashioned  and  molded  by  all  our  earthly  associations. 

There's  a  divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough-hew  them  how  we  will. 

In  1833,  when  this  youthful  wanderer  made  his  home  in 
Detroit,  all  was  strange,  and  new,  and  wonderful.  The  quaint 
old  city — the  French  kabitans,  gay,  vivacious,  exclusive;  the 
old  English  families,  proud,  phlegmatic,  reserved,  not  yet 
reconciled  to  their  lost  dominion;  the  remnants  of  Indian 
tribes  whose  fathers,  if  they  did  not  themselves,  remembered 


LIFE  AND   CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAU   CHANDLER.      129 

Pontiac,  and  Bloody  Run,  and  Brownstown,  and  Tecumseh, 
and  Hull's  surrender,  and  the  Thames,  and  who  traversed  the 
trails  and  portages,  and  floated  on  the  waters,  and  traveled 
over  land  once  all  their  own,  and  who  lingered  continually 
about  their  favorite  old  home  on  the  straits;  hunters  and  trap 
pers  and  fishermen  gathered  there ;  voyageurs  who  knew  every 
coast  and  every  portage  to  "far-off  Athabasca"  crowded  the 
shores  and  loitered  around  in  sad  indolence  as  they  heard  the 
rushing  sound  of  steam  and  saw  the  mysterious  vessels  that, 
without  sail  or  paddle,  usurped  their  dominion  and  occupa 
tion;  sailors  were  there  who  had  fought  with  Perry  on  the 
waters  below;  fur-traders  who  had  brought  thither  their  treas 
ures  from  unknown  mountains  and  plains ;  immigrants  gath 
ering  from  all  the  world ;  merchants  from  the  interior  and  far- 
off  West.  But  time  would  fail  to  give  more  than  a  passing 
glance  at  the  scenes  and  associations  into  which  our  advent 
urer  was  plunged,  and  amidst  which  his  character  was  to  be 
formed,  his  energy  to  be  tested,  his  triumph  to  be  gained. 

Amid  such  scenes  he  must,  of  course,  be  earnest,  resolute, 
almost  aggressive.  He  must  be  inquiring,  thoughtful,  decided. 
He  must  be  just  and  honorable  in  all  his  intercourse  with  this 
varied  and  peculiar  population.  He  must  be  fearless  and  un- 
cringing  with  the  supercilious,  and  haughty,  affable,  and  cor 
dial  with  his  equals  and  friends,  and  bold  in  defense  of  the 
weak,  else  he  would  long  since  have  gone  down  among  the  for 
gotten  and  unknown. 

And,  such,  indeed  were  the  elements  of  his  character,  pre 
dominating  over  all  faults  and  foibles,  illustrating  many  pecu 
liarities,  offensive  to  his  opponents  and  sometimes  incompre 
hensible  to  his  friends. 

I  have  not  the  time,  on  this  occasion,  to  illustrate  the  differ 
ent  phases  of  his  character  from  actual  events  in  his  life.  His 


17  c 


130         ADDRESS  OF  ME.  CONGEE  ON  THE 

honesty  and  personal  integrity  have  never  been  assailed  or 
questioned. 

Never  in  the  varied  transactions  of  mercantile  or  commer 
cial  life  has  his  good  name  been  tarnished.  In  the  fever  heat 
of  political  warfare  no  charge  of  corruption  has  pointed  to 
him. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  late  political  contest  when  his  pride 
and  ambition  and  the  crowning  wish  of  his  life  looked  to  a  re 
turn  to  his  long-honored  place  in  the  Senate,  when  he  was  told 
secretly  by  an  old  and  trusted  friend  that  if  he  would  give  his 
influence  to  aid  in  securing  a  certain  political  appointment  to  a 
friend  of  one  who  could  secure  the  result  he  could  be  elected. 
With  one  emphatic  gesture,  he  replied :  "  I  have  lived  among 
the  people  of  Michigan  for  almost  half  a  century  an  honest 
man,  and  I  will  never  secure  my  election  even  by  a  promise 
which  at  another  time  I  might  be  willing  to  make  voluntarily." 

Equally  characteristic  of  the  man  was  his  celebrated  letter 
to  the  governor  of  his  State,  so  much  criticised,  so  much  ap 
proved — the  blood-letting  letter,  so  called. 

He  saw  treason  spreading  through  the  land,  poisoning  the 
fountains  of  justice,  invading  the  halls  of  legislation,  threat 
ening  the  free  institutions  of  the  country,  selfish,  unreasoning, 
inexorable,  gathering  forces  for  the  conflict,  already  arming 
for  the  strife. 

What  should  he,  the  watchman  on  the  tower,  say  to  his  peo 
ple?  Let  the  Union  be  destroyed?  Let  the  Constitution  be 
shattered?  Surrender  ignobly  the  inheritance  to  treason  and 
traitors  ?  No.  War,  if  it  must  come,  blood  and  life,  if  neces 
sary,  wealth  and  property  and  comfort  and  long  years  of  strug 
gle,  but  this  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved.  No  surren 
der  to  traitors!  No  yielding  to  timidity!  No  endurance  of 
vacillation,  either  in  court  or  camp ! 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.      131 

He  spared  neither  high  nor  low,  neither  the  head  of  the 
Army  nor  the  subaltern  in  the  field.  He  had  the  great  cour 
age  to  attack  alone  the  management  of  the  campaign  and  to 
change  commanders.  The  history  of  his  labors  through  the 
war  will  never  be  written.  They  are  only  partially  known 
to  the  country,  and  not  fully  even  to  his  friends. 

When  the  war  was  over  he  demanded  the  fruits  of  victory — 
submission  to  the  Government,  freedom  in  spirit  and  in  fact 
to  the  enfranchised ;  absolute  protection  to  the  citizen  in  all 
legal  and  political  rights  wherever  the  flag  floats ;  recognition 
of  the  fidelity  and  valor  of  Union  soldiers;  confidence  and 
support  to  the  Union  men  of  the  South;  suppression  of  vio 
lence  and  anarchy  and  kukluxism ;  no  recognition  or  payment 
of  rebel  claims  for  losses  in  the  war. 

On  these  and  like  subjects  he  could  not  be  silent.  He  was 
not  vindictive.  He  would  not  yield  to  injustice ;  but,  looking 
upon  the  shattered  hearth-stones,  the  maimed  and  suffering 
soldier,  and  the  innumerable  graves  of  patriot  citizens,  he  de 
manded  the  results  of  victory,  no  more,  no  less,  and  that  the 
great  struggle  should  close  the  contest  once  and  forever. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  record  of  his  life  and  character  will  be 
more  fully  made  up  by  abler  hands  than  mine.  This  time  and 
place  permit  but  a  glance  at  a  few  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  man.  I  can  but  feebly  echo  the  voice  of  ten  thousand  citi 
zens  of  our  mourning  State  in  any  expression  of  admiration 
for  our  departed  statesman — of  sorrow  for  his  untimely  death. 
In  Michigan  a  million  and  a  half  of  people  are  mourners.  No 
party  lines  divide  our  citizens  as  we  lay  the  tribute  of  respect 
upon  his  tomb.  No  citizen  has  died  more  universally  known ; 
none  been  attended  to  his  last  resting-place  with  more  abound 
ing  sadness.  The  thousands  who  thronged  the  streets  on  the 
day  of  his  funeral  and  endured  the  tempestuous  winter  storm 


132  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   BRIGGS   ON  THE 

for  hours  unmoved,  as  the  long  cortege  moved  "with  slow 
funereal  tread "  to  his  final  resting-place,  were  but  the  repre 
sentatives  of  millions  throughout  our  land  who  cried  as  of 
old,  "  Know  ye  not  that  a  great  man  hath  fallen  in  Israel  this 
day?" 


Address  of  Mr.  BRIGGS,  of  New  Hampshire. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  was  born  in  the  dis 
trict  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  Among  my  constituents 
are  the  friends  and  associates  of  his  early  life.  His  birth 
place,  in  the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Merrimac,  is  only  a  short 
distance  from  my  own  home.  There  his  boyhood  was  spent, 
and  there  he  came  forth  to  fame  and  fortune.  His  boyhood 
gave  promise  of  the  great  character  which  his  manhood  ful 
filled.  From  very  humble  beginnings,  by  his  own  energy  and 
force  of  character,  he  worked  his  way  to  the  front  rank  of  the 
statesmen  of  his  country. 

He  adds  another  and  most  honorable  name  to  the  bright  list 
of  New  Hampshire's  illustrious  sons.  Proudly  we  bear  the 
honor  of  his  birth,  and  while  his  adopted  State  may  be  first, 
let  New  Hampshire  be  next  at  the  memorial  altar. 

The  Granite  State  believes1  in  men  like  Senator  CHANDLER. 
We  believe  in  a  statesmanship  of  positive  ideas.  Not  only  do 
we  honor  his  political  principles,  but  for  his  very  nature  we 
loved  the  man — for  his  open,  generous,  philanthropic  nature ; 
always  exercising  his  great  aggressive  vigor  against  the  wrong, 
always  taking  the  part  of  the  weak  and  oppressed. 

An  outline  of  his  busy  and  eventful  life  has  already  been 
given  by  those  who  have  preceded  me,  and  I  purpose  only  to 
offer  a  few  suggestions  on  the  character  of  the  man  whom  we 
have  met  this  day  to  honor.  Of  his  abilities  there  can  be  but 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      133 

one  opinion.  All  the  requisites  of  a  great  executive  he  cer 
tainly  possessed — decision,  method,  energy,  self-reliance.  He 
was  not  merely  a  great  executive ;  to  his  capacity  as  such  was 
added  that  broader  vision,  that  greater  originality,  in  short, 
that  statesmanship  which  belongs  to  great  administrators. 
The  executive  need  evolve  only  methods,  the  administrative 
measures.  Tried  by  any  theory,  or  measured  by  his  own  great 
success,  Senator  CHANDLER'S  abilities  lifted  him  to  the  dignity 
of  a  great  administrator.  This  might  rest  alone  upon  his  busi 
ness  success ;  it  might  rest  upon  his  management  of  the  Inte 
rior  Department  for  the  brief  period  he  was  at  its  head ;  it 
might  rest  upon  his  republican  leadership  of  the  last  twenty 
years,  a  leadership  that  was  more  and  more  acknowledged 
until  at  his  death  it  almost  approached  supremacy.  This  ca 
pacity  for  administration  was  shown  in  all  these  relations,  and 
even  in  his  legislative  career  it  was  this  faculty  which  comes 
oftenest  to  the  front.  He  possessed  the  qualities  of  a  legis 
lator  of  no  mean  or  secondary  order;  he  was  invaluable  in  the 
committee,  but  he  was  not  the  less  of  consequence  upon  the 
floor  of  the  Senate. 

Trace  the  history  of  this  country  through  a  long  and  most 
memorable  period,  and  constantly  as  you  may  see  his  hand 
in  its  measures  you  as  constantly  hear  his  voice  in  its  debates. 
He  was  bold  and  aggressive ;  endowed  by  nature  with  that 
clearness  of  logic,  that  directness,  intensity,  and  vigor  of  state 
ment  that  rendered  him  no  "unknown  quantity"  in  debate. 
Any  attempted  analysis  of  his  character  seems  superfluous, 
his  every  quality  is  so  well  known  to  the  world.  He  has  been 
prominently  before  the  nation  for  a  quarter  of  a  century— 
an  era,  measured  by  its  great  achievements,  unparalleled  in  the 
annals  of  mankind ;  all  the  while  closely  identified  with  the 
legislation  of  his  country  and  with  the  leadership  of  a  great 


134 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  BEIGGS  ON  THE 


party  which  has  done  more  for  human  liberty  than  any  other 
known  to  history. 

The  one  particular  characteristic  of  the  man  was  his 
strength.  Other  men  were  more  finished.  We  have  many 
finished  men,  but  few  really  strong  ones.  He  was  a  man 
whose  every  thought  was  strength,  and  with  whom  to  think 
was  to  do.  Strength  of  conviction,  strength  of  purpose, 
strength  of  methods,  strength  of  statement — these  were  his 
in  a  supreme  degree.  History  will  never  lose  the  impress  of 
his  character. 

He  has  been  accused  of  a  too  zealous  partisanship,  but  there 
is  no  warrant  for  this  charge.  True  he  was  no  "  half-and-half"; 
there  was  no  duplicity,  no  dissimulation  in  his  composition.  If 
he  believed  at  all,  it  was  with  his  whole  great  heart ;  and  with 
his  intensity  of  conviction  he  may  have  been  wont  to  regard 
success  as  a  duty ;  but  his  enemies,  if  such  he  had,  will  not 
accuse  him  of  unworthy  and  dishonorable  means. 

His  methods  were  bold,  as  they  were  vigorous.  He  struck 
hard,  but  he  struck  openly.  Indeed  his  whole  nature  precluded 
suspicion.  There  were  no  dark  or  secret  traits  in  his  charac 
ter.  He  did  everything  openly  and  above-board,  and  despised 
treachery,  cant,  and  hypocrisy  as  only  he  had  the  scorn  to  de 
spise  them.  With  all  his  tremendous  earnestness,  he  was  yet  a 
chivalrous  and  generous  antagonist ;  generous  as  he  was  in  all 
the  relations  of  life. 

His  character  was  of  the  kind  to  which  generosity  constitu 
tionally  belonged,  for  his  faults  were  only  those  which  belong 
to  the  warmest  natures. 

Altogether  he  was  one  of  those  men  who  make  history,  and 
stamp  their  impress  upon  the  age  in  which  they  live ;  a  man 
whose  fame  is  still  destined  to  increase  like  that  of  every  true 
statesman  whose  work  is  grounded  in  conviction. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.       135 

History  will  rank  him  among  the  most  eminent  of  those 
whose  names  are  inseparably  associated  with  the  cause  of 
human  rights. 

Time  has  already  vindicated  his  prescient  radicalism,  and 
posterity  will  place  him  with  the  heralds  who  have  gone  be 
fore  their  fellows  to  proclaim  a  better  day. 

In  the  official  career  of  Senator  CHANDLER,  from  the  begin 
ning  to  the  close  of  his  public  life,  we  have  a  realization  of  the 
poet's  earnest  prayer  when  he  sang : 

God  give  us  men ;  a  time  like  this  demands 

Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hands ; 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill ; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy ; 

Men  who  have  honor;  men  who  will  not  lie; 

Men  who  can  stand  before  a  demagogue 

And  damn  his  treacherous  flatteries  without  winking; 

Tall  men,  sun-crowned,  who  live  above  the  fog 

In  public  duty  and  in  private  thinking. 


Address  of  Mr.  BARBER,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  It  did  not  occur  to  me  that  I  should  take  part 
in  these  proceedings  until  the  resolutions  of  the  Senate  were 
read  in  this  Hall  this  afternoon.  I  rise  now  from  a  sense  of 
duty.  I  should  do  injustice  to  my  own  feelings,  and  I  am  sure 
to  the  feelings  of  a  very  large  number  of  the  residents  of  the 
city  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  in  part  on  this  floor,  should 
I  remain  silent  on  this  occasion.  I  come  not,  however,  with 
any  elaborate  eulogy.  My  acquaintance  with  Senator  (/HAN 
DLER  was  very  brief.  I  saw  him  for  the  first  time  in  March 
last,  at  the  extra  session.  My  contact  with  him  was  but  slight. 
I  cannot,  therefore,  speak  of  him  either  from  long  acquaint 
ance  or  intimate  relations.  But  it  does  so  happen  that  the  last 
great  speech  made  by  the  Senator  was  delivered  in  the  Con- 


136         ADDRESS  OF  MR.  BARBER  ON  THE 

gressional  district  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent.  On 
the  evening  of  the  delivery  of  that  speech  I  called  upon  him 
at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel  in  Chicago.  I  had  a  cordial  greet 
ing — a  long  and  a  pleasant  interview.  As  I  recall  his  stalwart 
form,  and  bluff,  hearty  manner,  I  feel  like  exclaiming, 

And  shall  I  see  his  face  again, 
And  shall  I  hear  him  speak  t 

I  went  with  him  to  the  hall,  I  sat  upon  the  platform,  I  saw 
him  face  as  fine  a  political  audience  as  was  ever  assembled 
together,  and  I  heard  him  deliver  one  of  the  grandest  speeches 
ever  uttered  upon  this  continent.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  de 
scribe  the  enthusiasm  of  that  occasion.  Mr.  CHANDLER  had 
never  spoken  in  this  great  city  before,  and  he  had  informed 
one  of  his  most  intimate  friends  who  was  with  him  that  he  re 
garded  it  as  the  peculiar  and  crowning  honor  of  his  life  that 
he  had  been  invited  to  speak  in  the  great  commercial  metrop 
olis  of  the  Northwest.  He  seemed  to  regard  it  as  somewhat  of 
a  recognition  of  the  position  which  he  had  at  last  reached  in 
the  estimation  of  this  country.  No  man  ever  had  a  greater 
triumph.  The  great  city  of  the  lakes  was  never  moved  by  an 
orator  in  that  manner  before.  The  echoes  of  that  speech  rung 
out  through  the  Northwest  like  the  clear,  strong  blast  of  a 
bugle. 

I  saw  the  Senator  retire  from  that  platform  amid  the  thun 
ders  of  applause  and  bearing  on  his  brow  the  laurels  he  had 
won.  He  had  given  upon  that  occasion  the  most  decisive  evi 
dence  of  oratorical  power  by  the  manner  in  which  he  moved 
and  controlled  that  vast  multitude  assembled  to  hear  him. 

But,  sir,  the  scene  changes.  On  the  morrow  I  stand  by  his 
cold  and  lifeless  form. 

The  present  moment  is  our  ain, 
The  niest  we  never  saw. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.   l.'JT 

Mr.  Speaker,  as  one  of  the  escort  I  went  with  the  remains  of 
the  distinguished  dead  to  the  city  of  Detroit.  Amid  the  hush 
of  his  awe-stricken  friends  we  laid  him  down.  Illinois  to 
Michigan  delivered  up  the  illustrious  dead. 

Mr.  Speaker,  among  the  patriotic  names  of  this  country  that 
of  Senator  CHANDLER  is  written  high  up,  where  it  may  be 
read  by  all  the  ages.  You  cannot  erase  it  without  tearing  from 
the  records  one  of  the  most  important  chapters  in  the  history 
of  humanity.  Glory  to  his  memory !  Peace  to  his  ashes ! 


Address  of  Mr.  GARFIELD,  of  Ohio. 

Mr.  CHAIRMAN:  It  cannot  be  too  late,  however  late  the 
hour,  to  pay  our  tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  the  mem 
ory  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER. 

There  is  a  thought  in  connection  with  his  life  and  the  his 
tory  of  his  State  which  has  been  referred  to  by  the  gentleman 
from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  KOBESON],  and  which  may  be  still  fur 
ther  developed.  It  only  lacks  two  years  of  being  a  full  cen 
tury  since  Lewis  Cass  was  born,  and  he  and  ZACHARIAH 
CHANDLER  have  filled  seventy-three  years  of  that  period  with 
active,  prominent  public  service.  And  through  all  those  sev 
enty-three  years  there  has  shone  like  a  star  in  both  their  lives 
the  influence  of  one  great  event. 

In  the  stormy  spring  of  1861,  when  the  foundations  of  the 
Republic  trembled  under  the  tread  of  assembling  armies,  I 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  home  of  the  venerable  Lewis  Cass, 
who  had  just  laid  down  his  great  office  as  chief  of  the  State 
Department,  and  for  an  hour  I  was  a  reverent  listener  to  his 
words  of  wisdom.  And  in  that  conversation  he  gave  me  the 
thought  which  I  wish  to  record.  He  said,  "  You  remember, 


18  c 


138 


ADDRESS   OF   ME.    GARFIELD   ON   THE 


young  man,  that  the  Constitution  did  not  take  effect  until  nine 
States  had  ratified  it.  My  native  State  was  the  ninth.  It 
hung  a  long  time  in  doubtful  scale  whether  nine  would  agree ; 
but  when  at  last  New  Hampshire  ratified  the  Constitution,  it 
was  a  day  of  great  rejoicing.  My  mother  held  me,  a  little  boy 
of  six  years,  in  her  arms  at  a  window  and  pointed  me  to  a 
great  man  on  horseback  and  to  the  bonfires  that  were  blazing 
in  the  streets  of  Exeter,  and  told  me  that  the  horseman  was 
General  Washington  and  the  people  were  celebrating  the  adop 
tion  of  the  Constitution."  "  So,"  said  the  aged  statesman,  "  I 
saw  the  Constitution  born,  and  I  fear  I  may  see  it  die. " 

He  then  traced  briefly  the  singular  story  of  his  life.  He 
said :  "  I  crossed  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  settled  in  your 
State  of  Ohio  one  year  before  the  beginning  of  this  century. 
Fifty-four  years  ago  now,  I  sat  in  the  General  Assembly  of 
your  State  of  Ohio.  In  1807  I  received  from  Thomas  Jefferson 
a  commission  as  United  States  marshal  which  I  still  preserve, 
and  am  probably  the  only  man  living  to-day  who  bears  a  com 
mission  from  Jefferson's  hand."  And  so,  running  over  the 
great  retrospect  of  his  life  and  saddened  by  bloody  prospect 
that  1861  brought  to  his  mind,  said,  "  I  have  loved  the  Union 
ever  since  the  light  of  that  bonfire  and  the  sight  of  General 
Washington  greeted  my  eyes.  I  have  given  fifty-five  years  of 
my  life  and  my  best  efforts  to  its  preservation.  I  fear  I  am 
doomed  to  see  it  perish. " 

But  a  better  fate  awaited  both  him  and  the  Union.  Another 
son  of  New  Hampshire  took  up  the  truncheon  of  power  from 
his  failing  hand,  and,  with  the  vigor  of  youth  and  liberty, 
maintained  and  defended  the  Union  through  the  years  of  its 
supremest  peril.  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER,  whose  birthplace 
was  not  more  than  thirty  miles  distant  from  that  of  Lewis 
Cass,  resumed  the  duty  as  Michigan's  Senator  with  the  vigor 


LIFE   AND   CHARACTER   OF   ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      139 

of  young  and  hopeful  manhood.  Aud  he  pushed  forward  that 
great  work  until  his  last  hour  and  died  in  the  full  glory  of  its 
achievement.  The  State  of  New  Hampshire  may  look  upon 
this  day  and  these  names  we  celebrate  as  her  pride  and  special 
glory. 

The  great  Carlyle  has  said  that  the  best  gift  God  ever  gave 
to  man  was  an  eye  that  could  really  see ;  and  that  only  a  few 
men  were  recipients  of  this  gift.  I  venture  to  add  that  an 
equally  rare  and  not  less  important  gift  is  the  courage  to  tell 
just  what  one  sees.  Besides  having  an  eye,  ZACHARIAH 
CHANDLER  was  endowed  in  an  eminent  degree  with  the  cour 
age  to  tell  just  what  he  saw. 

If  from  these  seats,  Mr.  Speaker,  every  Representative 
should  speak  out  the  very  inmost  thought  of  the  people  he 
represents,  this  Hall  would  be  luminous  with  the  spirit  and 
aspirations  of  the  American  people.  The  ruling  principle  of 
Mr.  CHANDLER'S  life  was  this:  that  what  he  saw  in  public 
affairs  he  uttered ;  and  having  said  it,  stood  by  it — not  with 
malice  or  arrogance,  but  with  the  sturdiness  of  thorough  con 
viction.  To  a  stranger  he  might,  perhaps,  appear  rugged  and 
harsh — even  to  cruelty ;  yet  his  heart  was  full  of  gentleness 
when  he  had  satisfied  his  sense  of  duty. 

As  a  political  force  Mr.  CHANDLER  may  be  classed  among 
the  Cyclopean  figures  of  history.  The  Norsemen  would  enroll 
him  as  one  of  the  heroes  in  the  halls  of  Valhalla.  They  would 
associate  him  with  Thor  and  his  thunder  hammer.  The  Ro 
mans  would  associate  him  with  Vulcan  and  the  forges  of  the 
Cyclops  who  made  the  earth  tremble  under  the  weight  of  his 
strokes. 

What  man  have  we  known  who,  without  specially  cultivating 
the  graces  of  oratory,  was  able  to  condense  into  ten  minutes  a 
more  enduring  speech  than  the  one  which  he  delivered  at  the 


140  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   GARFIELD   ON   THE 


session  of  1879  ?  Under  the  pressure  of  his  intense  mind 
an  hour  of  ordinary  speech  was  condensed  into  a  sentence. 

He  was  not  an  orator  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  fine  writing 
and  graceful  delivery  ;  but  in  the  clearness  of  his  conceptions 
and  the  courage  and  force  with  which  he  uttered  them  he  was 
a  most  remarkable  speaker. 

Somebody  said  long  ago  that  "one  man  with  a  belief  was  a 
greater  power  than  ten  thousand  who  have  only  interests." 
Mr.  CHANDLER  was  emphatically  a  man  with  a  belief. 

In  the  minds  of  most  men  the  kingdom  of  opinion  is  divided 
into  three  territories  —  the  territory  of  yes,  the  territory  of  no, 
and  a  broad,  unexplored  middle  ground  of  doubt.  That  mid 
dle  ground  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  CHANDLER  was  very  narrow. 
Nearly  all  his  territory  was  occupied  by  positive  convictions. 
On  most  questions  his  mind  was  made  up  more  completely  than 
that  of  any  man  I  have  known. 

His  was  an  intense  nature  — 

Dowered  with  the  hate  of  hate,  the  scorn  of  scorn, 
The  love  of  love. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  that,  as  a  general  rule,  long  service 
in  a  legislative  minority  unfits  men  for  the  duties  that  devolve 
upon  a  majority.  The  business  of  the  one  is  to  attack,  of  the 
other  to  defend  ;  of  the  one  to  tear  down,  of  the  other  to  build  up. 

The  leaders  of  the  anti-slavery  struggle  in  this  country  were 
perhaps  the  most  skillful  in  assault  of  any  political  party  in 
our  history.  But  when,  after  years  of  service  in  the  minority, 
they  came  into  power,  but  few  of  their  prominent  leaders  were 
fit  for  the  constructive  work  of  maintaining  an  administration. 
Mr.  CHANDLER  was  one  of  that  small  number  who  displayed 
in  constructive  legislation  abilities  fully  equal  to  those  which 
he  exhibited  as  a  member  of  the  minority.  His  administration 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF   ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER.      141 

of  the  Interior  Department  was  au  ample  vindication  of  his 
high  qualities  as  an  executive  officer. 

This  Congress  will  miss  him  in  its  councils.  His  party  and 
his  State  will  greatly  miss  him.  I  know  he  is  sincerely  mourned 
in  my  own  State,  where  within  three  weeks  of  the  hour  of  his 
death  I  had  the  honor  to  preside  over  the  largest  political 
assemblage  I  have  seen  in  many  years.  The  name  of  ZACHA 
RIAH  CHANDLER  called  together  that  great  multitude,  who  sat 
at  his  feet  and  listened  with  reverence  and  enthusiasm. 

Reviewing  his  life  and  summing  up  his  qualities,  we  may 
fitly  apply  to  him  the  words  which  the  laureate  of  England 
applied  to  Wellington : 

O  iron  nerve,  to  true  occasion  true, 

O  fallen  at  length,  that  tower  of  strength, 

Which  stood  foresquare  to  all  the  winds  that  blew. 


Address  of  Mr.  WILLITS,  of  Michigan. 
Mr.  SPEAKER  :  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  needs  no  eulogy  to 
perpetuate  his  name  in  the  State  of  Michigan;  his  nineteen 
years'  service  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  recorded  in 
the  annals  of  that  distinguished  body,  and  nothing  that  we 
can  say  to-day  can  add  to  or  diminish  his  fame.  His  public 
like  his  private  life  was  an  active  one  and  was  well  known 
and  conspicuous  from  the  first.  March  4,  1857,  he  succeeded 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  a  statesman  long  honored 
by  the  State  of  Michigan ;  who  had  taken  a  leading  part  in  its 
early  history,  having  been  its  territorial  governor  from  1813  to 
1830;  who  had  for  four  years  been  Secretary  of  War  under  An 
drew  Jackson,  seven  years  minister  to  France  under  Jackson 
and  Van  Buren,  the  candidate  of  a  great  party  for  the  office  of 
Chief  Executive  of  the  nation,  Senator  of  the  United  States, 
and  finally  Secretary  of  State  under  James  Buchanan.  It  was 


142  ADDRESS   OF  MR.   WILLITS  ON  THE 

such  a  man  as  this  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  succeeded;  a  man 
who  had  gathered  to  himself  the  honors  of  two  continents,  con 
ferred  dignity  upon  every  position  he  had  occupied,  and  for 
half  a  century  had  added  leaf  after  leaf  to  the  well- filled  chaplet 
that  had  fallen  so  fittingly  upon  his  brow.  Lewis  Cass  was  an 
honored  name  in  the  State  of  Michigan ;  it  was  a  household 
word  in  the  homes  of  the  hardy  pioneers  who  had  followed 
him  into  the  new  State  he  had  helped  to  found.  Their  chil 
dren  in  like  manner  revered  the  man  who  had  extinguished  the 
Indian  title  to  the  lands  they  now  occupied  and  had  made  a 
name  historic  in  the  annals  of  his  country. 

It  was  no  whim  that  relegated  Lewis  Cass  to  private  life.  It 
was  no  accident  that  brought  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  to  the 
front  instead.  The  people  of  the  Peninsular  State  are  not  vol 
atile  or  visionary,  or  forgetful  of  those  who  have  shown  them 
selves  worthy  of  honor.  There  is  none  of  the  feeling  exhibited 
by  the  Athenian  clown,  as  related  by  Plutarch,  who  was  tired 
of  hearing  Aristides  everywhere  called  the  Just.  The  State  of 
Michigan  was  in  no  just  sense  unmindful  of  the  great  worth  of 
Lewis  Cass,  and  would  have  delighted  to  continue  him  in  the 
high  position  he  had  so  justly  attained,  if  events  had  not  con 
spired  to  render  it  impossible.  With  these  events  he  had  failed 
to  keep  himself  fully  abreast.  There  are  times  when  public 
sentiment  will  not  endure  a  political  laggard.  Lewis  Cass,  with 
all  his  breadth  of  intellect,  with  the  experience  of  a  statesman 
and  the  amenities  of  the  finished  scholar  and  gentleman,  was 
not  a  positive  man,  was  not  an  original  man.  Times  were  on 
the  threshold  when  both  of  these  qualities  were  to  be  needed. 
He  was  a  true  man  at  heart,  loyal  to  his  country,  and  so  honest 
that,  when  at  last  he  saw  the  fallacy  of  his  position,  he  resigned 
his  high  place  rather  than  compromise  his  fealty  to  the  Union. 
But  he  was  too  old  to  fight,  and  he  was  unable  to  devise  a  plan 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  ZACHARIAH   CHANDLER.      143 

to  still  the  waves  of  the  rising  revolution.  He  bad  to  give  way 
to  a  sentiment  he  had  been  slow  to  perceive  and  utterly  unable 
to  comprehend. 

Among  those  who  had  been  quick  to  perceive  the  logic  of 
events  was  the  man  whom  we  honor  to-day.  He  was  selected 
by  the  people  of  the  State  of  Michigan  to  succeed  Lewis  Cass; 
not  because  he  had  had  large  experience  in  political  affairs,  for 
he  had  had  none ;  not  because  he  had  culture  and  refinement, 
for  he  had  neither,  as  understood  in  the  school  or  the  drawing- 
room  ;  not  because  he  was  learned  in  the  law  or  skilled  in  the 
arts  of  diplomacy,  for  he  was  wont  to  boast  that  he  cared  for 
neither  the  abstruseness  of  the  one  nor  the  duplicity  of  the 
other;  but  he  was  selected  because  he  was  a  strong,  positive 
man  who  was  in  full  sj'mpathy  with  the  revolt  against  the 
political  tendencies  of  the  party  in  power,  and  with  which 
Lewis  Cass  had  been  identified  for  half  a  century;  he  was 
selected  because  he  was  a  hearty  hater  of  sham,  an  opponent 
of  the  compromises  that  had  insidiously  taken  more  than  they 
had  purported  to  give,  and  demanded  more  than  the  people  of 
his  State  were  disposed  to  yield;  because,  in  the  "irrepress 
ible  conflict"  then  impending,  he  was  on  the  side  of  the  lib 
erty  which  the  fathers  had  aspired  to,  but  from  which  the  sons 
had  apostatized.  In  all  these  characteristics  he  was  the  repre 
sentative  of  his  people,  who  had  the  utmost  confidence  in  his 
integrity,  strong  common  sense,  and  positive  adherence  to  the 
convictions  born  of  this  common  sense. 

From  the  advent  of  ZACHARIAH  CHANDLER  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  to  the  end  of  his  career,  so  unexpectedly 
terminated,  he  justified  the  confidence  reposed  in  him.  In  the 
terrible  conflict  that  convulsed  the  land  he  was  an  important 
factor,  moving  and  controlling  events  and  policies  by  the  tre 
mendous  force  of  his  will  and  the  dictation  of  a  restless  en- 


144  ADDEESS   OF  ME.   WILLITS   ON   THE 

ergy.  Uutrammeled  by  the  subtleties  of  the  dialectician,  he 
held  in  supreme  contempt  the  faltering  hesitation  of  generals 
and  the  doubting  quibbles  of  lawyers  in  the  face  of  an  armed 
enemy.  To  him  war  had  its  own  laws,  construed  by  the  su 
preme  necessity  of  the  hour  and  enforced  by  the  musket ;  the 
road  to  essential  justice  was  in  a  straight  line,  with  no  devious 
paths  leading  into  an  ambush.  Emancipation  of  the  negro 
race,  prompt,  decisive,  by  proclamation,  presented  to  him  no 
legal  difficulties.  He  would  utilize  the  force  which  might  be 
let  loose  upon  rebellion,  and  would  for  all  time  take  from  the 
master  the  slave  for  whose  thraldom  he  had  risen  in  arms 
against  the  Union;  retributive  justice  should  supplement  un 
warranted  revolution. 

He  was  restless  over  the  delay  of  the  proclamation,  and 
wheh  the  preliminary  one  had  been  issued  in  September,  1862, 
he  had  none  of  the  fears  and  doubts  of  the  conservatives  who 
protested  against  it  as  unconstitutional  and  sought  to  have  it 
recalled.  In  the  intervening  months  he  visited  Washington, 
before  the  final  proclamation  was  issued,  to  counteract,  by  his 
presence  and  his  positive  views,  the  effort  to  have  the  step 
abandoned.  On  his  return  I  met  him  at  the  depot,  at  my  own 
home,  and  was  informed  exultingly:  "Lincoln  will  stick."  In 
all  these  years  he  seemed  to  comprehend  by  inspiration  what 
some  men  never  learned  at  all  or  acquired  only  by  experience. 
He  was  not  swept  along  by  the  tide;  he  was  a  component  part 
of  the  tide  itself — one  of  the  forces  of  the  times,  one  of  the 
men  who  make  history.  Nevertheless,  he  was  not  much  given 
to  speech-making  or  formulating  statutes.  The  records  of  Con 
gress  do  not  show  for  him  as  much,  measured  by  the  square 
foot,  as  for  the  long  line  of  disputative  spouters  who  have 
gone  to  the  same  graves  as  the  speeches  they  made.  He 
would  never  have  devised  the  electoral  commission;  he  could 


LIFE   AND   CIIAKAC'TER   OP   ZACIIARIAII   CHANDLER.      145 

iiot  have  done  so  if  be  would ;  but  be  supplemented  it  with 
organized  facts  witbout  wbicb  its  findings  would  have  had 
altogether  another  termination. 

He  was  a  praetieal  man  not  given  to  theories;  not  like 
Archimedes,  who  from  principles  elaborated  in  his  study  con 
structed  his  pulleys  and  engines,  the  one  of  which  demolished 
the  Roman  fleet  and  played  pitch  and  toss  with  the  Roman 
ships,  but  rather  like  Marcellus,  who  in  his  practical  way 
captured  the  unguarded  tower  which  overlooked  doomed 
Syracuse.  He  was  a  man  of  affairs.  By  his  own  exertions 
he  made  an  independent  fortune,  of  which  he  never  stole  a 
cent.  No  man  ever  charged  him  with  larceny,  or  hypocrisy, 
or  lukewarmness  to  a  friend,  or  placability  to  a  foe,  or  cow 
ardly  desertion  of  a  conviction,  or  compromise  of  a  principle. 
He  was  a  generous  fighter,  who  never  fired  a  musket  with  hos 
tile  intent,  and  yet  worthily  earned  the  title  of  Michigan's 
great  war  Senator.  Over  this  title  no  worthy  soldier  on  the 
shores  of  the  great  lakes  of  the  Northwest  has  ever  been  cap 
tious  or  envious.  He  was  the  soldiers'  friend,  and  he  divided 
with  them  the  high  esteem  in  which  they  held  all  the  moving 
spirits  in  the  great  contest  in  which  loyal  men  shed  so  much 
of  their  loyal  blood.  None  have  mourned  his  untimely  death 
more  than  the  heroes  of  that  war,  and  when  the  news  of  his 
death  was  sent  to  the  ends  of  the  globe  on  the  morning  of  the 
1st  day  of  November  last,  none  bowed  with  a  heartier  sorrow 
over  the  memory  of  the  man  they  revered  than  the  men  who 
had  so  faithfully  in  the  field  vindicated  the  policy  advocated 
by  the  illustrious  Senator  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

When  the  sad  news  reached  me,  I  was  on  my  journey  home 
from  Chicago.  1  had  parted  with  him  the  midnight  before.  I 
was  the  last  man  that  saw  Senator  CHANDLER  alive.  I  now 
and  shall  to  my  latest  hour  recall  the  room  in  the  Grand 


19  c 


146 


ADDRESS   OF   MR.   WILLITS. 


Pacific  Hotel  in  which  we  had  this  last  interview.  The  fire 
was  burning  low;  the  hotel  was  as  silent  as  the  grave  in 
which  he  now  lies ;  we  were  as  much  alone  as  if  we  sat  by  a 
solitary  camp-fire  in  the  pathless  desert.  After  about  twenty 
minutes'  conversation  I  left  him  alone  with  Death  stealing 
over  the  threshold  of  his  room.  I  did  not  see  him  there, 
but  is  it  my  imagination  that  recalls  footfalls  as  I  passed 
along  the  silent,  dimly-lighted  corridors  to  my  own  room? 
As  the  recollection  comes  to  me,  it  seems  as  though  these 
echoes  may  have  been  the  footfalls  of  the  grim  destroyer  who 
so  closely  follows  the  steps  of  mortal  man.  I  recollect  now 
that  there  was  a  sense  of  something  unsaid — what  it  was  I 
cannot  recall — that  led  me  to  stop  and  turn  back  as  if  to  rap 
at  his  door  and  speak  to  him  again,  but  knowing  he  was 
weary  I  refrained,  and  went  my  lonely  way.  I  can  hardly 
wish  now  that  I  had  followed  the  impulse,  for  it  is  unlikely 
that  my  presence  would  have  changed  the  purpose  of  that 
Providence  that  holds  the  issues  of  life  and  had  then  marked 
him  for  death;  but  who  knows  what  parting  word  might  have 
been  said?  Who  knows  but  the  impulse  I  had  may  have  been 
only  a  response  to  one  he  himself  had,  and  which  had  spoken 
to  me  as  spirit  talketh  to  spirit,  calling  for  some  word  of  sym 
pathy,  some  kind  remembrance?  But  he  is  gone,  and  I  shall 
never  know  whether  he  called  or  not  till  we  again  meet  face  to 
face.  Till  then  I  can  only  join  with  the  multitude  of  mourners 
in  lamenting  the  great  loss  we  all  sustained  in  the  loss  of  a 
great  man,  and  in  lading  this  last  token  upon  his  grave. 

I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions. 

The  question  being  taken  on  the  resolutions,  they  were 
adopted  unanimously,  and  in  obedience  to  the  second  resolu 
tion  the  House  (at  six  o'clock  and  twelve  minutes  p.  m.) 
adjourned. 


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